UMASS/AMHERST 


31EDbbD05EEbb77 


LIBRARY 


OF  THE 


MASSACHUSETTS 

AGRICULTURAL 

COLLEGE 


NO. 
SOURCEVjCfcL     Sf 


n 


487 
E25 


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TWO    WEEKS 

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COMMON  SENSE 


IN 


THE  POULTRY  YARD. 

A  STORY  OF  FAILURES  AND  SUCCESSES. 


INCLUDING    A    FULL    ACCOUNT    OF 


1000  HENS  AND  WHAT  THEY  DID. 

WITH    A    COMPLETE    DESCRIPTION    OF 

The  Houses,  Coops,  Fences,  Runs,  Methods   of  Feeding, 

Breeding,  Marketing,  etc.,  etc.     And  Many  New 

Wrinkles  and  Economical  Dodges, 

BY 

J.    P.    HAIG. 


WITH    N^^MEROTJS    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

I^EW    YORK: 
THE  INDUSTRIi^L   PUBLICATION   COMPANY. 

1900. 


Entered  According:  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  Year  1888, 

BY  JOHN  PHIN, 

In  the  OflQce  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D  0. 


CONTENTS, 


Publisher's  Introduction,         ..  =  ---.v 

Preface, ix 

How  it  Came  About,        --------  n 

Old  Experiences  and  New  Plans,          -----  27 

Trj'ing  to  Improve  the  Old  Stock,       ------  33 

Facts  and  Fancies,  -          -          -          -          ---          ..  4.7 

Workini?  Out  a  System -  53 

House  Buildinf?,       -          ^          -----          .  59 

Broods  Increase  and  Troubles  Begin,           -                     -          -          -  73 

Preparing  for  a  Start,        -------  84 

An  Episode,  ---------89 

Yards  and  Fences,    -------  94 

Breeding  Pens,    - 103 

Making  a  Start,       ..---.          -          -  107 

Under  Way  at  Last--- More  Help  Needed,    ~          -          -          -,         -  116 

Feeding,        .-,.-. 121 

Fall  Broods,         -           ,           . 139 

Our  First  Winter,     -.-----  144 

Nests  and  Nest  Eggs,    -                     -          =           -          -          -          -  151 

Marketing,     ......          ^                     -          -          -  156 

Vermin,     -          -                      ..          _          .           _          .          -          .  155 

Enemies,         .          .          _           .          .           -          -          -          -  lesj 

Earlj'  Chickens  and  High-Pricea  Eggs,                   -           -          -          -  175 

Ketrospective— Profit  and  Loss,  -          -          ^          -          -          -  182 

Conclusion,           -           .           .           -                      -           _           -           -  188 


FREF  A^CE. 


Tkifling  as  chickens  and  eggs  may,  at  first  sight,  appear,  it  is,  never- 
tlieless,  a  fact,  that  the  output  from  the  poultry  of  the  United  States  exceeds 
in  value  that  of  all  the  silver  mines  therein.  Therefore,  whatever  will  add 
even  a  trifling  percentage  to  the  profit  derived  from  our  poultry  must  be, 
not  only  of  individual,  but  of  national  importance,  and  it  is  by  the  hope  that 
he  might  accomplisli  something  in  this  direction,  that  the  author  was  in- 
duced to  prepare  the  present  work. 

I  have  put  the  subject  in  ttie  form  of  a  story,  in  the  hope  that  some  who 
would  be  repelled  by  a  mere  treatise  may  find  the  work  sufiiciently  interest- 
ing to  read  it  through.  But  although  the  principles  and  methods  are 
strung  on  a  slender  thread  of  fiction,  they  are  none  the  less  true.  Every 
house  described,  every  device  herein  detailed,  every  method  practiced,  has 
been  successfully  used  as  related,  so  that  the  reader  need  not  hesitate  to 
put  up  coops  and  use  them  after  tliese  patterns.  I  have  given  the  best 
practical  results  of  years  of  experience,  and  not  the  mere  imaginings  of  a 
theorist  or  a  novelist. 

In  some  of  the  chapters,  notably  that  on  feeding,  I  have  been  obliged  to 
abandon  the  story  form,  and  to  give  my  results  in  a  general  form,  otherwise, 
this  chapter  would  have  expanded  into  a  book.  And  in  other  chapters,  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  the  practical  information  more  thoroughly,  I  have 
frequently  anticipated  the  course  of  events  as  they  actually  occurred. 

I  firmly  believe  tliiit  the  methods  herein  detailed  are  the  very  best  for 
all  those  who  do  not  aspire  to  the  refinements  of  the  business— incuba- 
tors, etc.  While  these  are  no  doubt  valuable  aids  to  the  extensive  and  experi- 
enced poulterer,  I  am  afraid  they  are  not  the  thing  for  the  ordinary  chicken 
raiser.  I  must  confess  that  I  have  never  owned  an  incubator,  but  I  have 
entrusted  eggs  to  men  who  claim  to  be  professionals  in  their  use,  and  I 
have  not  been  so  encouraged  as  to  be  induced  to  try  it  again,  unless  some 
new  and  more  powerful  inducements  are  offered.  I  have  always  been  able 
to  command  enougli  brooding  hens  to  meet  my  wants,  and  my  success  with 
them  has  been  far  greater  than  anything  that  has  come  under  my  observa- 
tion from  the  incubator.  But  of  course  this  is  only  my  own  experience,  and 
under  different  circumstances  that  experience  might  have  been  very  differ- 
ent; so  that  I  hold  that  in  tliis  matter  each  man  must  decide  for  himself. 

In  the  earnest  hope  that  my  readers  will  derive  as  much  pleasure  and 
profit  from  their  poultry  as  I  have  done,  I  place  this  little  book  in  their 
hands. 

J.  P.  HAIG. 

Femiebield,  May  l8t,  1885. 

<i4054. 


PUBLISHER'S  INTRODUCTION. 


It  is  an  old  saying,  and  one  very  generally  accepted,  "  figures  can- 
not lie."  If  by  this  is  meant  that  two  added  to  two  nlways  make 
four,  it  cannot  be  denied.  But,  two  and  two  do  not  always  make 
^our.  Sometimes  they  make  twenty-two,  sometimes  they  make 
z,  and  sometimes  they  make  o,  so  we  see  that  it  is  not  the  figures 
alone,  but  their  position  as  well,  that  governs  the  general  result. 
When  Captain  Bobadil  proposed  to  exterminate  an  opposing  army 
by  killing  them  off  at  the  rate  of  ten  every  half  hour;  twenty  an 
hour — ten  hours  a  day,  two  hundred  men — a  hundred  days,  twenty 
thousand  men — the  figures  did  not  lie  though  the  Captain  did. 
The  growth  of  numbers  under  the  potent  spells  of  the  arithmetician 
is  something  marvellous.  No  matter  how  small  the  i)rofit,  if  the 
number  of  articles  on  which  that  profit  accrues  is  only  great  enough, 
a  fortune  of  any  desired  amount  may  be  achieved.  No  better  illus- 
tration of  this  occurs  than  that  of  book  publishing.  If  the  ordinary 
profit  on  a  book  is  25  cents,  we  have  only  to  sell  ten  times  the 
number  at  a  profit  of  5  cents,  to  obtain  twice  the  income;  and 
as  low  i)nces  bring  increased  sales,  here  is  a  road  to  fortune. 
And  so  strongly  did  this  idea  take  possession  of  one  publisher  in 
this  country,  that  he  attempted  to  sell  books  at  a  profit  of  only  i 
cent  a[)iece,  in  the  hope  that  by  selling  millions,  the  aggregate 
profits  would  be  larger  than  by  the  usual  plan.  Unfortunately  for 
his  scheme,  a  profit  of  one  cent  is  not  difficult  to  wii)e  out.  It 
does  not  take  many  si)oiled  copies;  not  many  minutes  wasted  by 
clerks;  not  very  much  postage,  to  throw  the  balance  the  other  way. 
At  any  rate  the  man  who  tried  it  soon  found  himself  a  bank- 
rupt. 

Perhaps   in   no   case   is   the   power    of   multiplication    and   the 


VI  PUBLISHER  S    INTEODUCTION. 

consequent  certainty  of  a  fortune  more  strongly  presented  than  in 
the  poultry  business.  In  the  first  i)lace  tlie  number  of  chickens 
which  can  be  raised  from  one  healthy  hen  in  a  few  years  is  some- 
thing astounding.  Let  us  begin  with  one  healthy  young  hen;  let 
us  suppose  that  slie  and  her  female  i)rogeny  will  live  for  seven 
years,  (which  is  greatly  within  bounds)  and  rear  two  broods  of 
I13  each,  every  season.  Let  us  also  suppose  that  half  her  chickens 
are  cockerels,  almost  all  of  which  will  be  killed,  except  those  re- 
quired for  breeding,  and  therefore  let  us  make  no  account  of  them. 
Then  it  will  be  found  that 

At  the  end  of  the  first  year  we  have  the  original  hen 

and  13  chickens,  making      _         _  _         -         .                     14 

At  the  end  of  the  second  year  we  have  -         -                       196 

'•             "          third          "             "  -          -          -                2,744 

"             "          fourth        "              "  -         .                  38,416 

fifth           "              "  _          -          .           537.824 

sixth         "             "  -         -              7.529^536 

"            "         seventh     "             "  _         _         .    105,413,504 

Here  then  is  a  chance  for  a  fortune.  Let  us  emigrate  to  some 
western  prairie,  where  we  can  find  unoccupied  land  which  we  can 
use  for  a  few  years — ^just  as  do  the  great  cattle  robbers — we  beg  their 
pardon,  we  mean  Cattle  Kings — and  let  us  take  with  us  a  single 
hen.  At  the  end  of  seven  years  we  will  be  the  happy  possessors  of 
one  hundred  and  five  millions  of  chickens,  which  at  the  very  low 
price  of  ten  cents  each,  would  make  us  worth  over  ten  millions  of 
dollars.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  therefore,  we  can  sell  out,  come 
east  and  enjoy  ourselves. 

Of  course,  in  such  an  extravagant  statement  as  this,  the  fallacy 
becomes  too  obvious  to  allow  of  its  deceiving  any  one,  although 
in  this,  as  in  other  cases,  the  figures  do  not  lie.  But,  when  men 
come  to  talk  of  thousands  the  impossibilities  seem  to  disappear  and 
it  does  not  seem  that  propositions  which  are  backed  by  such  clear 
calculations,  and  are  sustained  by  apparendy  well  known  facts,  can 
be  anything  but  feasible.  Thus,  some  man  reports  that,  from  his 
flock  of  thirty  hens  he  has  made  an  annual  profit  of  thirty  dollars,  and 


publisher's  introduction.  th 

the  question  at  once  arises :  Why  cannot  $3,000  be  made  from 
3,000  hens?  In  the  first  [)1ace,  it  is  rare  to  find  in  such  calculations 
that  anything  is  set  down  for  labor,  tlie  care  of  thirty  fowls  being  re- 
garded as  mere  pastime  and  occupying,  we  will  say,  only  three-quar- 
ters of  an  hour  per  day.  But,  let  suppose  that  our  flocks  increase 
to  600  birds — a  com[)aratively  small  number.  We  now  find  that 
instead  of  three-quarters  of  an  hour  per  day  we  have  to  give 
fifteen  hours  per  day — a  demand  ui)on  time  and  strength  which 
would  soon  break  down  any  ordinary  man. 

Somebody,  claiming  to  have  3,000  fowls,  tells  us  that  we  ought 
never  to  let  a  day  pass  without  examining  personally  each  bird,  so  as 
to  see  if  it  is  in  health,  and  he  further  declares  that  only  in  this  way 
can  we  be  sure  of  success.  Let  us  see.  Suppose  it  takes  just  half  a 
minute  to  examine  a  fowl  carefully;  then,  to  examine  3,000  fowls 
will  take  just  1,500  minutes,  or  25  hours,  which  is  a  little  more  time 
than  we  have  ever  been  able  to  put  into  a  day's  work.  The  fact 
is,  that  very  few  people  have  any  idea  of  what  a  thousand  is,  and 
none  have  any  idea  of  what  a  million  is.  One  man  wrote  a  book 
of  recipes,  etc.,  and  has  advertised  it  as  "A  Million  of  Facts  for  the 
People."  His  book  consists  of  about  1,000  pages;  there  are  53 
lines  to  the  page,  and  about  10  words  to  a  line,  or  530,000  words 
in  the  book,  so  that  if  his  claim  be  well  founded,  every  word  must 
embody  the  statement  of  at  least  two  facts! !  It  is  needless  to  say 
that  the  claim  has  no  foundation  in  flict. 

The  same  unsound  calculations  which  seem  to  infest  poultry 
keeping  are  found  to  affect  almost  every  other  business,  and  suc- 
cess is  only  to  be  attained  in  any  undertaking,  by  intelligence 
industry,  economy  and  perserverance.  As  soon  as  we  get  beyond 
a  very  narrow  limit,  the  influence  of  personal  7vork  becomes  a 
trifling  element,  and  we  have  to  de[)end  upon  the  help  of  human 
beings  (]uite  as  much  as  uj^on  the  good  qualities  of  our  fowls. 
And  every  one  knows  how  uncertain  and  unreliable  most  human 
help  is. 

We  do  not  make  these  statements  for  the  purpose  of  deterring 
any  one  from  entering  ui)on  the  raising  of  jjoultry  on  a  large  scale, 
provided  they  bring  to   the  undertaking  the   requisite  amount  of 


Vm  PUBLISHER  S    INTRODUCTION. 

experience,  skill  and  capital.  But,  without  these,  failure  is  almost 
certain,  and  we  should  be  sorry  to  aid  in  distributing  a  work  which 
would  lead  enthusiastic  but  inexperienced  persons  to  lose  what  little 
capital  they  may  liave.  As  for  the  keeping  of  poultry  on  a  small 
scale,  that  is  alwaws  to  be  commended.  Poultry  are  the  scaven- 
gers and  save-alls  of  the  nation.  The  aggregate  savings  of  the 
little  flocks  often  to  a  hundred  fowls  that  are  scattered  throughout 
tlie  country  amounts  to  a  greater  sum  than  the  value  of  the  cattle 
and  horses  put  together,  and  to  more  than  the  output  of  our  much 
lauded  silk  industry,  with  all  its  huge  mills,  imposing  Avarehouses, 
and  aristocratic  mill  owners.  And  yet,  Avith  all  this,  six  hundred 
and  sixteen  thousand  dozen  eggs  passed  through  the  Custom 
House  in  New  Yodv  during  the  months  of  October  and  November 
of  last  year — showing  ])lainly  that  the  market  for  eggs  is  far  from 
being  glutted.  Poultry  when  kept  in  small  numbers  on  any  place 
can,  in  general  find  a  considerable  share  of  their  food  in  scraps 
that  would  otherwise  go  to  waste,  and  in  insects,  seeds,  etc.  'J1iey 
are  therefore  alwa3's  jirofitable,  and  as  })leasant  as  they  are  profitable. 
It  is  only  when  this  and  similar  rural  pursuits  are  taken  up  as  a 
business  that  any  danger  of  failure  exists,  and  in  such  cases  failure 
generally  arises  from  the  flict  that  those  who  embark  in  the  under- 
taking make  the  great  mistake  of  supposing  that  because  they  have 
a  love  for  birds  therefore  they  must  have  the  ability  to  care  for 
them. 


COMMON    SENSE 

m  THE   POULTRY  YARD, 


^om  it  Came  QVbout. 


r  has  been  said  that  every  man  thinks  himself  competent 
to  edit  a  newspaper.  With  much  more  trutli  miglit  it  be 
said  that  every  man  tliinks  hmiself  competent  to  invest 
money  to  advantage.  And  it  is  liardly  necessary  to  say  that  in 
both  cases  a  large  proportion  of  the  men  who  think  thus  are  mis- 
taken. Thousands  of  men  have  found,  by  sad  experience,  that  one 
of  the  most  difficult  thmgs  to  do  is  to  invest  money  to  advantage 
and  yet  securely.  I  never  su[)posed  that  I  was  specially  gifted  in 
this  way,  but  having  occasion  to  invest  the  savings  of  many  years — 
a  small  sum  after  all,  by  the  way — I  supposed  that  as  good  a  plan  as 
any  would  be  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  those  who  might  be  re- 
garded as  experts  at  the  business.  I  do  not  now  speak  of  specula- 
tion or  investment  in  enterprises  which  ])romise  large  results,  with, 
of  course,  a  corresponding  risk,  but  of  those  investments  which  are 
supposed  to  be  permanent  and  secure,  and  upon  which  a  m;iii 
may  rely  for  a  certain  income  for  himself,  or  for  his  family  if  he 
should  be  taken  away. 

Tlie  prosperity  of  the  country  was  at  high  tide  at  the  time  of 
which  I  write.  Every  species  of  investment  promised  security  and 
a  liberal  income,  and  the  values  of  real  estate  were  constantly  in- 
creasing. Nor  did  this  increase  seem  to  be  a  speculative  one. 
The  people  were  growing  richer,  and  could  afford  to  pay  more  for 


12  COMMON   SENSE 

home  accommodation ;  the  number  of  those  who  wanted  dwellings 
seemed  to  be  constantly  increasing,  and  consequently  there  seemed 
to  be  absohitely  no  reason  why  prices  should  ever  fall.  Not  only 
were  private  individuals  lending  liberally  on  bond  and  mortgage  se- 
cured by  real  estate,  but  those  professional  experts  who  are  retained 
by  vast  monied  cor[)orations — insurance  companies,  savings  banks 
and  the  like — were  investing  the  capital  of  their  principals  in  these 
securities.  City  property  always  commanded  liberal  loans,  and  farms 
in  good  condition  were  considered  very  desirable  security.  And  on 
what  is  known  as  suburban  real  estate  loans  to  a  large  proportion 
of  their  value  could  be  obtained.  When,  therefore,  my  friend 
Brown  api)lied  to  me  for  a  loan  on  his  new  house  and  grounds,  I 
had  no  hesitation  in  entertaining  his  proposal.  He  had  paid 
$1,500  for  eleven  acres  of  land,  and  had  spent  $8,000  more  in 
building  a  substantial  and  comfortable  house  upon  it,  and  in  im- 
proving the  grounds.  When,  therefore,  he  applied  to  me  for  a  loan  of 
$3,500, 1  regarded  it  as  a  very  fortunate  occurrence  for  me,  and  after 
the  necessary  formalities  and  searches  had  been  made,  I  gave  him 
my  check,  took  the  bond  and  mortgage,  and  had  the  latter  recorded. 
Brown  was  a  Scotchman  of  more  tlian  usual  intelligence  and 
energy;  he  was  in  a  good  business,  and  as  his  family  was  growing 
up  he  decided  to  own  a  place  in  the  country.  He  had  bought  a 
somewhat  Avild  piece  of  land  near  a  large  country  town,  but  his 
taste,  knowledge  and  skill  had  transformed  it  into  a  marvel  of 
])eauty,  and  a  source  of  many  comforts.  It  was  situated  on  a  hill- 
side, commanding  an  extensive  and  beautiful  view,  and  on  the 
northern  boundary  the  land  rose  in  a  rather  steep  and  rocky  slope, 
the  face  of  which  was  covered  with  ferns,  while  along  the  top  was 
a  strip  of  evergreens  which  afforded  a  perfect  shelter  from  the 
northern  l)lasts.  This  rocky  and  ferny  shelter  had  struck  Brown's 
eye  from  the  first,  and  decided  him  in  choosing,  or  perhaps  I  should 
rather  say  in  making,  a  name  for  his  ])lace.  He  called  it  Fernie- 
hield,  which  he  told  me  signified  in  Scotch /^;7{y  shelter,  and  well 
did  it  describe  the  locality.  The  name  always  seemed  to  me  quite 
a  poetical  one  as  well  as  an  uncommon  one,  and  many  a  pleasant 
hour  did  I  spend  there  enjoying  the  romantic  walks  and  splendid 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  1$ 

views,  but,  above  all,  the  intellectual  converse  of  my  friend  Brown, 
who  was  not  only  a  highly  educated  man,  but  a  man  of  great 
natural  ability. 

For  a  time  all  went  well.  Business  Avas  good,  the  interest  was 
paid  promptly,  and  Brown  even  thought  of  reducing  the  mortgage. 
But,  alas,  for  human  hopes  and  plans.  One  of  those  commercial 
cyclones  which  seem  periodically  to  shake  the  very  foundations  of 
society,  overtook  us;  business  became  as  dull  as  before  it  had  been 
prosperous,  and  Brown  Avith  the  rest  found  his  income  reduced 
beyond  anything  which  he  had  deemed  i)Ossible.  Economy  was 
tried  on  every  point,  and  his  family  aided  him  in  every  way  to  cut 
down  expenses  and 'make  both  ends  meet,  but  without  success. 
There  is  a  pomt  beyond  which  economy  cannot  be  carried,  if  we 
would  continue  business  at  all,  and  Brown's  business  expenses  were 
actually  greater  than  his  income.  As  a  necessary  consequence  he 
defaulted  on  his  interest,  and  matters  daily  grew  worse.  He  then 
tried  to  sell,  bit  found  it  impossible  to  get  even  the  amount  of  the 
mortgage,  for  leal  estate  had  probably  suffered  a  greater  reduction 
than  any  other  species  of  property.  The  speculation  in  real  estate 
had  run  high  ;  the  opinion  had  been  universal  that  real  estate  pos- 
sessed a  solid  and  almost  unchangeable  value;  that  if  it  went  down 
a  little  now  and  then,  owing  to  local  causes,  it  would  soon  rise 
again,  and  that  at  any  rate  it  could  never  go  very  mucli  below  the 
prices  at  which  it  was  held.  When,  therefore,  those  who  had  held 
these  opinions  saw  it  go  down,  down,  and  never  rise;  saw  it  go 
far  below  what  they  had  always  regarded  as  the  lowest  possible 
limit,  they  became  panic  stricken,  and  would  no  more  have  bought 
real  estate  as  an  investment  than  they  would  have  bought  Keely 
motor  stock.  And  as  for  selling  suburban  residences,  that  was  out 
of  the  questioji.  All  who  could  afford  to  buy  and  to  live  in  such 
l)laces  were  supplied,  and  many  who  had  made  such  imestments 
were  forced  to  give  them  up,  since  their  diminished  incomes  no 
longer  enabled  them  to  sup|)ort  the  expenses  that  were  absolutely 
necessary.  The  market  was  easily  glutted,  antl  buyers  with  cash 
were  able  to  obtain  the  most  beautiful  and  comfortable  homes 
almost  at  their  own  prices. 


14 


COMMON    SENSE 


Things  looked  discouraging  indeed,  and  for  two  long  years 
Brown  struggled  on,hoj3ing  against  hope  and  looking  for  a  change. 
But  the  change  did  not  come;  or  at  least  it  came  so  slowly  that 
the  "  hope  deferred  made  the  heart  sick."  Meantime  the  interest 
accumulated,  and  the  want  of  it  cramped  me,  for  my  regular  income 
was  also  diminislied.  I  had  no  thought  of  foreclosing,  and  yet  it 
would  never  do  to  let  the  matter  run  on  until  tlie  property  would 
be  lost  to  us  boLli.  I  did  not  hint  this  to  Brown,  but  lie  saw  it  as 
clearly  as  I  did,  and  at  last  a[)proached  me  on  the  subject.  The 
result  of  our  conversation  was  that  we  both  resolved  to  make  a  de- 
termined effort  to  sell  it,  even  if  it  brouglit  no  more  than  the  amount 
of  the  mortgage  and  interest.  But  after  six  months  hard  effort  we 
found  that  we  could  not  get  a  buyer  even  at  this  low  price. 
Thorouglily  discouraged.  Brown  suggested  that  I  take  the  place 
myself.  He  had  an  offer  from  a  western  firm  to  take  the  manage- 
ment of  a  department  of  their  business  at  a  salary  which,  even  if 
moderate,  would  at  least  enable  him  to  live,  and  he  suggested  very 
sensibly  that  to  close  out  by  resorting  to  law  would  only  involve 
expense  without  any  real  benefit.  He  had  an  opportunity  to 
close  out  his  business  in  the  city  for  a  sum  which  would  enable  him 
to  get  setded  comfortably  in  his  new  home,  and  he  had  decided  to 
take  this  course  provided  he  could  arrange  with  me. 

To  fight  against  the  inevitable  is  folly.  Even  if  I  had  refused  to 
accept  his  offer,  and  had  held  on  to  my  mortgage  and  foreclosed  it 
by  legal  measures,  I  would  have  gained  nothing  but  a  loss,  as  the 
Irishman  said.  It  seemed  hard  to  take  property  that  had  cost  over 
$10,000  in  exchange  for  a  mortgage  of  little  over  one-third  that 
amount,  but  both  Brown  and  myself  saw  that  it  was  not  our  doing 
so  much  as  it  was  in  obedience  to  the  "inexorable  logic  of  events." 
So  far  as  I  was  concerned,  all  I  wanted  was  the  amount  I  had  put 
into  the  investment.  Brown  had  taken  chances;  I  had  taken 
none  If  the  i)roperty  had  increased  in  value  to  double  its  cost 
Brown  only  would  have  been  the  gainer,  and  so  as  I  had  no  share 
In  the  possible  profits  it  was  only  just  that  I  should  have  no  part 
or  lot  in  the  losses. 

And  so,  in  order  to  avoid  all  litigation  and  expense,  Brown  made 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  1 5 

out  to  me  a  deed  of  the  property,  and  agreed  to  give  me  possess'on 
as  soon  as  the  necessary  arrangements  could  be  made.  I  must 
confess  that  I  felt  no  pleasure  in  my  new  pro})erty.  Although  it 
Avas  certain  that  I  would  gain  by  it  in  a  few  years,  yet  when  I  saw 
the  deep  sorrow  which  settled  over  the  family  when  tliey  found 
themselves  obliged  to  give  up  their  beautiful  home,  any  satisfaction 
which  I  might  otherwise  have  felt  Avas  destroyed.  In  order  to 
relieve  Mrs.  Brown's  mind  as  far  as  I  could,  and  infuse  a  hope 
which  might  console  even  if  upheld  by  a  very  slender  prop,  I 
agreed  to  restore  the  place  to  them  at  any  time  within  three  years 
on  payment  of  the  original  mortgage  and  interest  to  the  date  of  my 
taking  possession,  the  rent  after  that  time  being  considered  a  full 
offset  for  the  interest. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  further  details  of  the  change.  I 
have  given  these  facts  in  order  to  explain  why  it  was  that  1  came 
to  select  such  an  expensive  place  for  a  poultry  experiment.  I  did 
not  select  it ;  it  selected  me,  and  though  now,  after  some  y^ars, 
neither  Brown  nor  myself  have  much  cause  to  regret  the  change, 
yet  at  the  time  it  was  a  pretty  severe  trial.  As  I  have  already  told 
my  readers,  Brown  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  and  in  his  new  posi- 
tion he  rapidly  made  himself  invaluable  to  his  employers.  Rival 
firms  were  not  slow  to  see  that  the  great  success  of  the  new^  man- 
agement was  due  entirely  to  Brown,  and  so  persistent  were  their 
efforts  to  secure  his  sernces  that  the  firm  he  was  with  admitted 
him  to  a  partnership,  and  he  is  now  a  very  wealthy  man.  He  occa- 
sionally visits  us  and  enjoys  his  old  home.  The  best  of  feeling 
exists  between  us,  as  may  be  readily  supposed,  and  although  he 
was  well  able  to  buy  back  the  place  before  the  limit  of  time  had 
exj)ired,  he  did  not  consider  it  wise  to  do  so.  He  could  not  return 
to  it  and  live  in  it  without  making  an  altogether  disproi)ortionate 
sacrifice;  to  rent  it  would  be  to  allow  it  go  to  the  dogs,  and  as  for 
selling  it,  that  was  yet  out  of  the  question.  There  is  therefore  no 
danger  that  my  possession  will  ever  be  disturbed. 

There  were  quite  a  number  of  useful  animals  and  articles  on  the 
place  which  were  now  of  no  use  to  the  original  owner.  In  ordei 
to  get  at  a  valuation  of  these  we  made   out  ?.  complete  inventory, 


l6  COMMON    SENSE 

and  employed  an  experienced  auctioneer's  clerk  who  affixed  to 
each  article  the  price  which  he  thought  it  would  bring  at  auction. 
The  aggregate  sum  was  beyond  that  which  I  cared  to  invest,  and  I 
suggested  that  the  goods  had  better  be  actually  sold  at  auction. 
Mrs.  Brown  strenuously  objected  to  this,  however,  and  with  her 
woman's  sense  suggested  that  if  we  would  dispose  at  private  sale 
of  some  of  the  articles  that  I  did  not  want,  and  deduct  from  the 
valuation  of  the  remainder  the  expense  of  selling,  the  amount  might 
probably  come  within  my  limit.  Taking  off  auctioneer's  fees, 
advertising,  time,  etc.,  reduced  the  latter  sum  very  materially,  and 
I  bought  the  goods  at  their  reduced  estimate.  Amongst  the  new 
acquisitions  were  a  fine  old  mare  (Madge  she  was  called),  an  excel- 
lent cow — almost  pure  Jersey,  though  not  registered — a  covered 
buggy,  spring  wagon,  dirt  cart,  harness,  and  the  usual  supply  of 
agricultural  tools.  There  were  also  over  fifty  hens  and  some 
pigeons,  but  the  latter  Avere  not  inventoried.  At  one  time  Brown 
had  some  very  fine  poultry,  but  during  his  troubles  the  flock  ran 
down  until  now  there  wai  nothing  but  some  fifty  or  sixty  old  hens 
of  a  rather  mixed  breed,  and  a  solitary  cock.  At  this  tune,  how- 
ever, I  did  not  care  much  about  the  kind  of  poultry,  and  although 
I  was  familiar  with  the  different  breeds  and  knew  a  good  bird 
when  I  saw  it,  yet  I  had  no  intention  of  doing  more  than  merely 
securing  eggs  enough  for  family  use. 

All  this  occurred  in  early  spring,  and,  of  course,  it  was  necessary 
that  I  should  take  possession  as  soon  as  ]:)Ossible,  so  that  the  ground 
might  be  put  in  order  for  spring  crops.  But  meanwhile  it  was 
found  advisable  for  Brown  to  visit  his  new  home,  not  only  to  make 
arrangements  for  moving  and  establishing  himself  there,  but  also  to 
consult  personally  with  his  employers.  All  this  was  going  to  take 
time,  so  I  suggested  that  they  give  us  possession  at  once  and  re- 
main as  our  guests  until  they  found  it  convenient  to  move.  Under 
other  circumstances  this  would  have  been  anything  but  an  agree- 
able arrangement,  but  under  the  present  conditions  it  was  thought 
best  to  do  so.  So  Mrs.  Brown  commenced  packing  and  soon 
cleared  rooms  enough  to  give  us  an  opportunity  to  move  in.  We 
accordmgly  gave  up  our  house   in  the  village — a  tenant  having 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  I 7 

been  already  found — and  moved  all  our  goods  and  chattels  on  to 
the  place.  Some  were  stored  in  tlie  barn,  others  were  put  to  im- 
mediate use,  and  others  were  stored  in  vacant  rooms.  I  was 
enabled  to  aid  my  friends  materially  in  packing  up;  the  work  on 
tlie  place  went  on  smoothly,  and  ere  long  it  was  time  for  the 
Browns  to  depart  for  their  distant  home.  Mr.  Brown  had  returned 
and  finished  packing.  Most  of  his  goods  had  been  sent  to  the 
railroad  de[)Ot  and  others  stowed  away  in  the  barn  until  it  suited 
his  convenience  to  send  for  them.  At  last  the  day  arrired  when 
I  was  to  drive  them  over  to  the  depot,  and  that  day  I  shall  never 
forget.  As  may  readily  be  imagined  the  children  had  become 
deeply  attached  to  every  animal  and  almost  to  every  plant  on  the 
place.  The  horse,  the  cow,  even  the  chickens,  were  all  old  friends, 
and  the  parting  was  i)ainful  to  the  last  degree.  But  it  ended  at 
last,  and  we  left  Ferniebield  in  anything  but  a  joyous  mood.  A 
short  drive  brought  us  to  the  neighboring  station;  the  train  rolled 
out  of  the  dei)Ot  and  I  returned  to  my  new  home — sad,  it  is  true, 
but  with  a  very  different  feeling  from  that  which  I  had  hitherto 
entertained.  I  now  felt  that  I  was  absolute  master  and  owner  of 
the  place.  So  long  as  the  original  owner  remained  I  could  not  get 
rid  of  a  feehng  that  I  was  subordinate  to  him.  But  now  I  was  not 
only  sole  possessor  but  sole  occu[)ier,  and  after  unharnessing  the 
mare  and  tying  her  in  her  stall,  I  walked  over  the  grounds  and  ex- 
amined them  as  I  had  never  done  before. 

The  weather  had  become  settled  and  warm,  and  the  plants  were 
developing  with  sjjring-title  vigor  and  rapidity.  The  garden,  which 
had  been  the  pride  of  Mrs.  Brown's  heart,  was  as  yet  almost  un- 
touched by  spade  or  hoe,  for  the  pressure  of  other  things  had  pre- 
vented attention  to  aught  except  the  useful.  A  few  early  vegetables 
iiad  been  planted,  but  that  was  all ;  but  the  oio  plants  were  spring- 
ing uj)  everywhere,  as  if  looking  for  their  lost  mistress,  and  wonder- 
ing where  was  the  careful  and  tender  hand  that  had  always  hitherto 
guided  their  wayward  growth.  It  was  late  in  the  season  to  begin 
gardening;  the  buds  on  the  vines  had  swollen,  but  the  rampant 
growth  of  the  i)revious  year  still  hung  untouched  upon  the  trellises. 
Other  plants  showed  the  same  neglected  condition,  and  I  turned 


1 8  COMMON    SENSE 

away  with  satklened  steps  and  went  towards  tlie  animals.  The 
l)igeoiis  and  hens  had  been  the  special  [)ets  of  my  little  friend, 
Nettie,  the  fourteen  year  old  daughter  of  Mr.  Brown,  and  she 
had  fed  and  petted  them  that  morning  amongst  the  very  last 
things  she  did.  They  now  looked  upon  me  with  a  curious  eye, 
as  if  to  say  "What  are  you  doing  here?"  The  horse  and  cow 
seemed  to  miss  their  former  owners  less,  though  I  fancy  that 
Madge  has  not  yet  quite  forgotten  her  old  friends,  and  still  looks 
about  and  wonders  when  they  will  return 

Returning  to  the  house,  I  sat  down  under  the  veranda  to  think 
over  the  situation,  for,  I  confess,  I  did  not  feel  altogether  satisfied, 
and  sometimes  I  doubted  the  wisdom  of  my  accepting  Brown's 
ofifer.  Still,  if  the  worst  came  to  the  worst,  I  could  sell  it  yet  for 
whatever  it  would  bring,  and  then  1  would  be  better  off  than  if  I 
had  forced  a  sale  by  law  and  diverted  a  large  portion  of  the  pro- 
ceeds into  the  pockets  of  lawyers  and  sheriffs. 

After  making  a  very  close  calculation,  and  as  accurate  an  esti- 
mate as  my  knowledge  of  the  facts  in  the  case  would  permit,  I 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  our  expenses  in  our  new  home  would 
be  from  six  to  eight  hundred  dollars  per  year  more  than  they  had 
usually  been.  In  makmg  this  estimate  I  charged  taxes,  insurance 
and  interest  as  rent;  repairs  I  did  not  include,  for  I  fully  believed 
that  the  steady  rise  in  the  value  of  property  would  more  than 
offset  this  item. 

Our  increased  expenses  were  due  to  the  fact  that  we  would  have 
to  keep  a  man,  a  horse  and  a  cow,  and  that  the  house  being  much 
larger  than  was  really  necessary  for  our  family,  would  also  entail 
extra  exj^ense  in  the  v/ay  of  fuel,  help,  etc.  The  place,  too,  would 
require  to  be  kept  up,  so  as  to  present  at  least  a  decent  ai)pearance, 
or  it  would  soon  become  less  valuable. 

It  is  true  that  for  all  th's  we  had  our  returns  in  the  shape  of 
increased  advantages  and  pleasures,  but  this  did  not  lessen  the 
amount  that  had  to  be  ])aid  for  them.  I  had  fully  allowed  for  the 
saving  that  might  be  effected  by  having  a  full  sup[)ly  of  such  arti- 
cles as  esjG^s,  milk,  butter  and  vegetables,  and  had  even  estimated 
certain  receij^ts  from  orchard  and  garden  as  possible  income;  but^ 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD,  I9 

after  all,  I  had  found  that  our  expenses  would  be  greatly  increased, 
and  how  were  we  to  meet  them  without  interfering  with  other  obli- 
gations that  were  imperative?  This  was  the  question  that  i)re- 
sented  itself  to  my  mind  in  such  a  clear  and  definite  shape. 

Two  ways  i)resented  themselves  :  Either  I  must  find  some  extra 
business  which  would  yield  the  required  amount,  or  the  place  itself 
must  be  made  to  yield  enough  to  pay  the  deficit.  i 

The  first  plan  was  out  of  the  question.  I  had  already  withdrawn  1 
as  much  as  i)0ssible  from  active  business,  and  I  had  no  idea  of 
again  saddling  myself  with  its  cares  and  anxieties.  And  to  accept 
a  subordinate  position  would  now  be  exceedingly  distasteful  to  me. 
If  I  engaged  in  any  pursuit  to  make  this  money  the  business  must 
be  very  congenial,  and  it  must  leave  me  entirely  independent, 
otherwise  it  would  be  wiser  to  sell  the  jjlace  at  a  sacrifice  and  live 
more  cheaply. 

It  seemed,  therefore,  that  there  was  no  alternative  but  to  make 
the  place  produce  the  required  extra  amount.  Let  me  therefore 
describe  it  in  detail. 

The  house  was,  as  I  have  said,  larger  than  was  necessary  for  a 
small  family  in  moderate  circumstances.  It  contained  twelve 
rooms,  was  heated  throughout  with  hot  air,  had  water-tanks,  bath 
room,  water-closets,  etc.,  etc.  In  short,  it  was  as  comi)lete  in  its 
appointments  as  most  city  houses.  It  is  with  the  grounds,  how- 
ever, the  productive  part,  that  we  have  chiefly  to  do,  and  therefore 
I  shall  say  no  more  about  the  house  itself. 

The  land  lay  along  a  road  which  led  from  a  large  and  thriving 
village  into  the  country.  The  village  almost  aspired  to  be  a  city, 
and  would  have  been  one  long  ago  if  the  good  sense  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  inhabitants  had  not  restrained  the  ambitious  vanity  of 
a  few.  The  road  ran  almost  straight  until  it  reached  the  foot  of  a 
somewhat  ])recipitous  hill,  when  it  turned  shar|)ly  to  the  west  and 
went  round  the  foot  of  the  mountain.  My  land  was  Ijounded  by 
this  road  on  the  west  and  by  the  mountain  on  the  north.  The 
"mountain,"  as  it  was  generally  called,  was  a  steej)  and  barren  hill 
about  200  feet  high,  reckoning  from  the  plain  at  its  base.  Just 
above  the  base  there  was  a  rocky  cliff,  and  above  that  the  line  of 


20  COMMON    SENSE 

evergreens  to  wliich  I  liave  alluded  as  giving  the  place  a  portion  of 
its  name.  My  line  ran  along  the  top  ot  the  cliff,  but  did  not 
include  much  of  the  evergreens.  The  mountain  itself  seemed  to 
belong  to  nobody.  It  was  almost  barren  ;  cattle  would  find  no 
pasture  on  it,  and  sheep  could  not  be  kept  in  that  region  on  ac- 
count of  the  village  curs,  which  were  constantly  prowling  about, 
and  would  soon  have  destroyed  any  sheep  that  might  have  been 
kept.  It  had  been  sold  for  taxes  several  times,  but  no  bidder  had 
ever  taken  possession  and  kept  it.  My  line  ran  along  this  cliff  for 
a  few  hundred  feet,  and  then  turned  straight  down  the  hillside. 
When  half  way  between  the  cliff"  and  the  plain  the  line  turned  to 
the  east,  and  ran  in  this  direction  for  some  distance,  after  which  it 
descended  to  the  line  of  the  next  property,  and  then  ran  in  a  wavy 
westerly  direction  till  it  met  the  road  already  mentioned.  If  tlie 
reader  will  follow  this  descrii)tion,  marking  the  outhne  on  paper 
with  a  pencil,  he  will  see  that  the  property  had  almost  the  form  of 
a  boot,  with  the  toe  lying  towards  the  morning  sun.  And,  indeed, 
so  strong  was  the  resemblance  to  a  boot,  as  seen  on  some  plans 
and  surveys  that  had  been  made,  that  it  had  actually  been  called 
"The  Boot"  before  Brown  bought  it  and  gave  it  a  more  poetical 
name. 

Such  being  the  general  "lay  of  the  land,"  an  account  of  its  vary- 
ing character  will  now  be  more  easily  understood.  I  say  varying, 
for  even  on  this  small  plot  of  ground  varieties  of  heavy  and  light 
soil  were  found,  as  well  as  black  vegetable  mould.  Under  the 
cliffs  the  ground  was  mostly  covered  with  rocky  debris,  which  was 
entirely  barren  and  irreclaimable.  In  spots  the  broken  rocks  were 
Covered  with  sandy  loam  which  had  gradually  washed  out  of  the 
very  thin  soil  above.  On  these  spots,  however,  nothing  grew, 
because  they  dried  so  very  quickly,  except  where  they  were  kept 
moist  by  perennial  springs,  several  of  which  trickled  down  the  cliff, 
their  course  being  marked  by  the  exuberant  growth  of  ferns  which 
sprang  out  of  the  rocks,  growing  in  little  i)ockets  filled  with  rich 
black  mould.  A  few  yards  from  the  base  of  the  cliff  the  soil 
became  richer  and  deeper,  though  still  very  stoney,  and  the  further 
down,  the  better  the  land  became.    On  this  ground  was  formed  the 


IN   THE    POULTRY   YARD,  21 

vegetable  garden.  By  great  labor  and  much  care  the  rocks  had 
been  removed,  and  even  the  small  stones  picked  out  to  a  great 
extent.  A  [)lentiful  supply  of  good  stable  manure  had  been  added, 
and  a  very  rich  and  fertile  soil  was  the  result. 

Between  the  vegetable  garden  and  the  house  was  a  strip  of  grass 
land,  used  generally  for  laundry  purposes,  the  back  of  the  house 
facing  this  way.  At  the  front  of  the  house  was  the  carriage  drive, 
which  was  carried  round  a  large  oval  grass  plot,  at  one  time  laid 
out  as  a  croquet  ground.  Beyond  the  drive  was  the  lawn  proper, 
and  along  the  edge  of  this  were  numerous  flower  beds,  while  beyond 
that  stretched  an  unbroken  field  of  green  grass  with  a  few  orna- 
mental trees  scattered  here  and  there.  The  house  was  distant 
about  one  hundred  feet  from  the  road,  the  approach  being  under 
two  rows  of  soft  maple  trees,  whicli  now  gave  promise  of  soon 
forming  a  dense  leafy  arch  overhead. 

The  lawn  was  bounded  on  the  south  and  west  by  an  irregular 
row  of  evergreens,  which  gave  an  air  of  seclusion  to  the  grounds, 
tlie  land  south  of  the  evergreens  being  either  used  as  a  pasture 
field  or  cultivated,  as  circumstances  might  direct.  This  was  the 
lowest  part  of  the  grounds  and  the  richest. 

Returning  to  the  eastern  boundary :  x^\t  the  point  where  the 
line,  descending  from  the  hill,  turned  towards  the  east,  were  i)laced 
the  barns  and  stables,  and  between  these  and  the  lawn  was  the 
orchard.  The  toe  of  the  boot  formed  a  nice  little  paddock  of 
about  three  acres,  ivhich  had  always  been  used  as  pasture  for  the 
horse,  cow,  calf,  etc. 

A  little  above  the  barns,  and  within  a  few  yards  of  the  eastern 
boundary,  there  gushed  from  the  hillside  a  S[)aikling  si)ring  of  as 
pure  water  as  I  ever  beheld.  The  water  from  this  spring  formed  a 
good  sized  stream,  and  flowed  straight  down  through  the  giounds, 
passing  directly  into  the  land  of  our  neighbor  on  the  south.  It 
furnished  all  the  water  necessaiy  for  cattle,  and  various  other 
])urposes — washing,  sprinkling,  etc.,  and  was  never-failing.  By 
means  of  a  hydraulic  ram  a  supply  was  forced  to  a  tank  at  the  top 
of  the  house,  so  that  the  supi)ly  there  was  constant  and  abundant. 
For  drinking  purposes  we  used  the  water  from  a  well,  which  was 


22  COMMON    SENSE 

SO  deep  and  clear  that  ice  was  a  wholly  unnecessary  luxury,  even 
for  the  cure  of  milk  and  butter. 

As  regards  the  area  that  was  covered  by  the  several  divisions 
which  I  have  described,  it  was  about  as  follows:  The  house, 
garden,  drive,  barns  and  barnyard  covered  about  two  acres;  die 
lawn  about  an  acre  and  a  half;  the  orchard  about  half  an  acre, 
and  about  two  acres  were  occu[)ied  by  shrubbery  and  barren  ground. 
Hiis  left  the  })addock  of  three  acres  and  about  three  acres  more  ot 
good  tillable  land.  The  question  now  was,  "  What  can  I  do 
with  it?" 

My  first  thoughts  ran  to  the  raising  of  "  truck,"  as  it  is  called, 
nnd  I  studied  several  works  which  professed  to  give  the  detailed 
ex[)erience  of  men  who  had  made  money  ni  this  business  I  con- 
cluded that  I  had  about  three  available  acres,  the  rest  being 
required  for  the  sui)port  of  the  horse,  cow,  etc.  What  croj)  should 
I  raise  ?  My  object  was  not  i^^  much  to  establish  a  highly  i)rofit- 
able  business  as  to  clear  a  certaiii  ...mount — say  $i,ooo  per  year — 
with  certainty,  and  without  an  immense  amount  of  labor  and  care. 
On  readmg  the  books  alluded  to,  I  found  that  in  the  hands  of 
skilful  gardeners,  in  the  neighborhood  of  our  large  cities,  a  single 
acre  was  quite  sufficient  to  yield  this  amount  as  profit.  Neverthe- 
less, I  doubted  my  own  ability  to  succeed  in  such  an  attempt. 
True,  I  had  had  some  experience  in  gardening,  but  not  as  a  busi- 
ness, and  while  I  had  no  doubt  about  my  succeeding  in  raising  fair 
crops,  yet  whether  I  could  do  it  and  make  it  J>ay  was  another  ques- 
tion. The  raising  of  cabbages  was  carried  on  quite  extensively  in 
the  neighborhood,  and  at  a  good  profit,  as  the  lanel  seemed  to  suit 
them,  and.  plenty  of  manure  could  be  had  by  the  car  load;  carrots, 
■celery,  cauliflower  and  on^  or  two  others  generally  commanded 
good  prices,  and  when  not  saleable  in  our  market  could  be  sent  to 
the  city,  Avhere  the  demand  was  always  good.  Asparagus  struck 
me  most  favorably,  and  I  determined  to  put  out  at  least  one  acre 
of  this  plant  at  any  rate.  I  knew  by  my  own  experience  that 
asparagus  always  commanded  a  high  price,  and  even  if  the  general 
'demand  fell  off,  ^ood  bunches  would  always  sell  Avell.  The  city 
^ould  always  take  all  I  could  raise,  and  after  the  first  work  of  start- 


IN   THE    POULTRY   YARD.  23 

ing  the  bed  tlie  labor  required  seemed  to  me  to  be  less  tlian  that 
needed  for  any  otlier  crop.  Moreover,  my  thoughts  were  turned 
in  this  direction  because  I  had  always  believed  that  the  land  south 
of  the  lawn  was  particularly  well  adapted  to  asparagus.  There  was, 
in  the  vegetable  garden,  a  small  aspanigus  bed  which  had  always 
yielded  a  fair  crop,  but  nothing  extra,  and  this  had  given  the  im- 
pression that  the  jand  was  not  specially  adapted  to  its  culture. 
But  wandering  one  day  about  the  grounds,  during  the  i)revious 
season,  I  came  across  an  asparagus  stalk  growing  in  a  corner  of 
the  fence  near  the  boundary  line.  I  was  astonished  at  its  size  and 
vigor.  I  dare  not  state  the  height  to  which  it  had  attained,  for 
few  of  my  readers  would  believe  me  ;  they  would  certainly  think 
that  I  had  mistaken  some  other  and  unknown  i)lant  for  asparagus. 
It  brought  me  in  mind  of  the  scriptural  description  of  the  mustard 
jjlant,  for  verily  I  beheld  the  birds  of  the  air  lodging  in  its  branches. 
So  here  I  marked  off  my  asparagus  bed,  and  I  have  never  had 
occasion  to  regret  the  selection. 

One  of  the  diftrculties  with  asparagus,  however,  is  the  length  of 
time  which  is  required  to  bring  a  bed  into  good  bearing  condition. 
It  was  now  too  late  to  establish  a  bed  that  season,  and  as  I  had  to 
allow  the  i)lants  at  least  three  years  to  become  established,  the 
prospect  of  returns  seemed  rather  distant. 

Up  to  this  time  I  had  never  thought  of  poultry,  and  if  any  one 
had  suggested  these  useful  animals  to  me  as  a  source  of  income  I 
would  have  regarded  the  proposition  with  considerable  disfavor. 
I  had  great  faith  in  the  profits  that  might  be  made  out  of  a 
small  flock  of  hens,  and  I  had  even  speculated  on  the  pos- 
sibility of  keeping  i)oultry  on  a  large  scale  successfully,  but  in 
my  i)revious  calculations  the  poultry  had  been  used  rather  as 
mere  concentrators  than  as  direct  sources  of  profit.  In  other 
words,  by  convertnig  corn,  wheat  clover,  etc.,  into  poultry  and 
eggs,  I  believed  that  much  freight  might  be  saved,  the  fertility 
of  the  land  not  only  maintained  but  increased,  and  thus  a 
fair  ])rofit  secured.  And  I  believe  all  this  to-day  with  even  more 
steadfastness  than  I  did  then.  But  to  make  poultry  a  paying  busi- 
ness on  three  or  four  acres,  even  with  a  few  extra  acres  of  orchard 


24  COMMON    SENSE 

and  shrubbery  for  tliem  to  range  over,  was  foreign  to  the  previous 
trahi  of  my  thoughts.  Of  course  there  was  one  branch  of  the 
poultry  busmess  that  might  be  made  to  i)ay  even  on  a  single  acre; 
I  refer  to  so-called  fancy  or  pure-bred  fowls,  but  this  was  a  branch 
of  the  business  for  which  I  felt  myself  totally  unfitted,  and  for 
which,  owing  to  certain  previous  disagreeable  associations,  I  had  a 
most  intense  dislike. 

1  In  previous  years,  wherever  I  had  had  a  home  with  even  a 
garden  attached,  I  had  always  kept  a  few  hens  and  always  with 
success,  and  now  as  I  have  already  stated,  there  were  in  our  barn- 
yard quite  a  flock — some  fifty  or  sixty  hens — left  by  Brown.  We 
had  even  gone  so  far  as  to  set  a  few  hens,  and  already  there  were 
several  small  broods  wandering  about  the  orchard.  For  experience 
had  taught  me  that  young  fowls  whose  flesh  haci  been  accumulated 
in  the  open  air,  with  all  the  freedom  of  the  hillsides,  and  the  health 
which  plenty  of  exercise  and  the  ability  to  select  natural  food  con- 
fers, were  infinitely  to  be  preferred  to  the  birds  usually  brought  to 
market,  most  of  which  had  been  confined  in  dirty  coops  for  two  or 
three  weeks  before  being  killed.  It  does  not  require  one  to  be 
much  of  an  epicure  or  a  judge  to  tell  the  difference.  I  had,  there- 
fore, taken  steps  to  raise  enough  for  our  own  table  at  least,  and 
thus  far  we  had  had  tolerable  success,  though  not  at  all  what  I 
ex[)ected,  from  my  previous  experience.  The  young  chickens  did 
not  seem  very  strong,  and  they  certainly  were  of  no  particular 
breed,  for  the  flock  was  rather  a  motley  one.  With  the  exception 
of  a  few  old  white  Leghorn  hens  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  tell 
what  they  were.  Amongst  the  rest,  however,  was  a  very  pretty 
Seabright  bantam  hen — the  especial  pet  of  little  Nettie;  and  here 
I  cannot  forbear  to  digress  a  Htde  and  give  the  reader  her  history. 
This  bird  was  the  last  one  of  a  trio  that  had  been  given  to  Nettie 
by  a  friend,  and  she  made  me  promise  that  when  she  got  settled  in 
her  new  home  I  would  pack  u[)  "  Bright  Eyes  "  and  send  the  bird 
to  her,  either  by  express  or  by  some  one  willing  to  take  charge  of 
her.  As  Nettie  was  a  favorite  of  mine,  and  very  fond  of  me,  I  was 
only  too  glad  to  make  the  promise.  The  other  hen  of  the  trio  had, 
during  the  previous  season,  hatched  out  seven  beautiful  little  chicks, 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  25 

and  was  rearing  them  successfully  through  all  the  perils  of  chicken- 
hood,  when  one  unfortunate  day  they  strayed  off  their  own  grounds 
on  to  those  of  the  neighbor  on  the  south,  and.  as  there  was  not  the 
best  of  feeling  between  Brown  and  the  other  man,  the  latter  set  his 
dog  on  them  and  killed  the  mother  and  all  her  brood.  He  then 
tossed  the  dead  bodies  over  the  fence.  It  was  a  brutal  action — but 
no,  I  must  not  say  that;  it  would  be  a  libel  on  the  brute.  Brown 
might  have  shot  the  dog  a  dozen  times,  for  the  animal  was  fre- 
quently on  his  grounds  without  permission,  but  he  was  too  much 
of  a  man  to  revenge  himself  on  a  dumb  creature.  Moreover,  the 
dog  was  a  very  fine  one,  and  a  great  flivorite  with  others  besides 
the  wretched  master  whose  instigations  he  had  obeyed.  Nettie 
was  terribly  shocked  by  the  death  of  her  pets,  and  the  remaining 
birds  became  more  than  ever  i)rccious. 

One  day,  not  long  after  this,  Brown  found  the  dog  on  his 
grounds.  He  coaxed  it  to  him  and  tied  it  up.  He  then  wrote  a 
note  and  sent  it  to  the  owner,  asking  him  if  he  should  shoot  the 
dog,  or  if  he  would  come  and  take  it  away.  He  did  not  re[)ly  ; 
but  his  wife,  a  lady  who  had  been  very  much  chagrined  at  her 
husband's  churlishness,  and  who  had  sent  Nettie  a  beautiful  mock- 
ing bird  with  a  note  of  deep  regret  and  apology,  came  over  and 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  take  the  dog  home.  To  such  a  woman 
few  requests  can  be  denied,  but  my  readers  will  not  wonder  that 
after  all  this  we  called  our  neighbor  on  the  south  Nalhil. 

The  little  Seabright  rooster  met  an  untimely  fate  in  a  different 
way.  Pugnacious  beyond  all  expression,  he  would  tight  anything 
that  wore  feathers,  no  matter  what  its  size,  color  or  previous  condi- 
tion. One  day,  however.  Brown  bought  some  live  chickens  for  table 
use,  and  amongst  them  happened  to  be  a  thoroughbred  game  cock, 
a  very  handsome  and  poweiful  bird.  The  little  Bantam  attacked  him 
as  soon  as  he  was  set  free  from  his  coop.  At  first  the  game  cock 
would  hardly  notice  him,  but  ihe  Bantam  ])ersisting  in  his  attacks, 
and  i)robal)ly  hurlmg  the  other  so  as  to  rouse  him  up,  was  killed  in 
less  time  than  it  lias  taken  to  lell  of  it.  Brown  saw  at  once  that 
the  conqueror  woii'd  '  r  n  \;il  ib'('  addition  to  his  yard,  and  I 
sus[)ect  that  ti.is  new  aiul   tlr '!()u:.;in)red  blood  did  a  great  deal  to 


26  COMMON    SENSE 

produce  the  fine  quality  of  half  a  dozen  of  the  hens  which  I  found 
on  the  place,  and  which  were  marked  exceptions  to  the  rest. 

So  the  little  Bantam  hen  was  left  alone  by  herself,  and  it  occurred 
to  me  that  1  would  give  Nettie  a  suri)rise.  I'he  hen  was  laying, 
but  of  course  her  eggs  were  not  fecundated.  A  friend  of  mine,  at 
some  distance,  however,  had,  as  I  knew,  some  very  fine  Seabrights, 
so  I  drove  over  to  his  house,  taking  the  litUe  hen  with  me.  I 
I  explained  what  I  wanted  and  what  I  wanted  it  for,  and  as  a 
matter  of  course  I  left  the  hen  behind.  In  a  few  weeks  I  received 
from  my  friend  ten  little  eggs,  which  I  set  under  a  quiet  old  hen, 
and  in  due  time  had  nine  of  the  prettiest,  smallest  chicks  I  had 
ever  seen.  Nettie  had  already  written  for  her  hen,  but  I  excused 
myself  on  one  ground  and  another.  Now,  however,  I  had  no 
excuse.  The  hen  herself  had  been  sitting  on  eggs  for  ten  days,  so 
I  drove  over  and  brought  her  home,  nest  and  all.  The  same  even- 
ing I  took  away  her  eggs  and  gave  them  to  another  hen,  while  I 
slipped  the  nine  little  chickens  under  her  and  left  her  in  darkness. 
Next  morning  she  came  off  the  nest,  quite  proud  of  her  little  flock 
and  taking  very  kindly  to  them.  I  therefore  packed  her  up  in  a 
nice  crate,  and  sent  her  by  express  prepaid  to  her  mistress,  and 
will  leave  my  readers  to  imagine  her  astonishment  and  delight. 

But  although  the  litde  Bantam  rooster  had  ignobly  j)erished  in 
the  struggle  for  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  he  had  evidently  left  his 
imi)ress  on  the  flock.  There  were  several  hens  of  very  small  size 
in  the  yard,  and  their  plumage  showed  that  they  were  related  to 
him.  I  therefore  saw  that  if  the  Bantam  eggs  I  had  now  setting 
should  hatch,  it  would  never  do  to  keep  the  cocks  except  in  a  cage 
or  aviary.  They  did  hatch,  and  I  had  five  pullets  and  six  cock- 
erels. Two  of  the  ])ullets  I  kei)t;  the  other  three  I  paired  with 
cockerels,  and  the  little  beauties  were  a  source  of  great  delight  to 
some  young  people  to  whom  I  gave  them;  the  three  remaining 
cockerels  I  afterwards  exchanged  for  birds  of  a  less  beautiful  but 
more  useful  breed. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD. 


27 


QDlb  Q?>-pcri dices  anb  Nero  plans. 


ROWN  had  never  given  any  personal  attention  to  his 
poultry;  the  selection  of  the  stock  that  was  to  be  kept 
J  was  left  i)retty  much  to  the  sei'vant  girl,  and  she  thought 
she  was  doing  a  wise  thing  when  she  killed  and  cooked  the  game 
cock  and  allowed  one  of  his  sons — a  larger  and  more  showy  bird — 
to  take  his  i)lace.  As  the  mother  of  this  bird  was  of  no  paiticular 
breed,  he,  himself,  was  a  mere  mongrel,  and  as  he  was  related,  on 
the  father's  side,  to  all  the  young  pullets  of  that  year,  the  conse- 
quence was  that  the  flock  lost  stamina;  and  this,  and  the  fact  that 
there  was  only  one  cock  to  over  fifty  hens,  explained  the  small 
hatches — many  of  the  eggs  proving  sterile. 

Now,  I  had  resolved  that  as  soon  as  I  got  fairly  under  way  I 
would  make  everything  on  the  place  profitable  in  every  sense.  If 
Ave  grew  vegetables,  they  must  be  the  best  of  their  kind  and  pro- 
duced at  a  moderate  expense.  Carrying  this  rule  into  the  poultry 
yard,  I  determined  to  procure  a  good  cock  from  some  neighbor 
and  })ut  him  with  half  a  dozen  hens,  and  so  raise  a  new  flock  of 
liens  that  would  be  vigorous  and  prolific.  I  therefore  killed  oflf 
the  rooster  and  looked  about  for  another,  it  being  my  intention  to 
raise  a  sufficient  number  of  pullets  to  entirely  replace  the  old  stock, 
with,  perhaps,  the  exception  of  about  a  dozen  hens,  which  struck 
me  as  being  specially  fitted  for  mothers. 

I  therefore  visited  vr.y  neighbors  and  examined  their  flocks,  for 
the  ])urpose  of  ])ro(:;iripg  such  a  bird  but,  I  must  say,  with  very 
])Oor  success.  The  firmers,  as  a  geneial  rule,  had  allowed  their 
])Oultry  to  breed  after  a  sort  of  hap-hazaid  method  ;  the  conse- 
■cjuence  was  that  their  stock,  not  being  very  superior  in  the  first 
])lace,  soon  ])ecame  worse;  and  I  found  that  Brown's  poultry,  run 
•down  as  it  was.  was  better  than  theirs.  Several  villagers  claimed 
to  keep  pure  breeds,  but,  as  a  general   rule,  they  were  not  what  I 


28  COMMON    SENSE 

wanted,  and  in  many  cases  it  was  easy  to  see  that  from  In-and-in 
breeding  tlie  strain  had  lost  stamina. 

At  first  I  felt  a  little  discou-aged,  and  thouglit  my  only  course 
was  to  buy  a  setting  of  eggs  of  some  vigorous  strain  of  game  birds, 
anil  raise  a  few  roosters  in  this  way.  Of  all  the  breeds  in  use  the 
games  have  been  bred  upon  the  most  correct  principles,  and,  as  a 
jrule,  these  principles  have  been  rigorously  applied.  The  result  is 
that  there  are  hundreds  of  flocks  of  game  birds  throughout  the 
country  that  bear  the  same  lelation  to  the  ordinary  birds  that 
thoroughbred  racehorses  bear  to  scrubs.  The  breeders  of  game 
Gocks  know  that  second-class  birds  are  of  no  use,  and  conse- 
quently those  who  wish  to  be  successful  are  compelled  to 
breed  for  health,  strength,  stamina  and  pluck.  And  these  are  the 
qualities  that  tell,  whether  it  be  in  man,  beast  or  bird.  Now,  it  is 
well  known  that  there  are  certain  external  signs,  such  as  hardness 
and  glossiness  of  feathers,  sha;^e,  carriage,  etc.,  which  enable  the 
breeeder  of  game  cocks  to  choose  his  breeding  birds  almost  with 
certainty,  while  many  of  the  points  which  the  "fancier"  estimates 
so  highly  he  ignores  altogether.  I  felt,  therefore,  that  here  at  least 
was  ground  certain  and  substantial,  and  I  almost  came  to  the  con- 
clusion to  i)rocure  such  eggs.  Another  motive  in  this  direction 
came  from  the  foct  that  I  knew  by  experience  that  of  all  fowls  the 
game  are  the  best,  both  as  regards  flesh  and  eggs.  A  young  game 
cock  cannot  be  equalled  on  the  table — except,  perhaps,  by  a  game 
pullet;  and  the  killing  of  a  fine  pullet  has  always  appeared  to  mc 
a  crime  which  should  be  punished  without  benefit  of  clergy. 

The  chief  objection  to  the  games  is  said  to  be  their  propensity  to 
fight.  I  have  had  one  game  cock  in  a  flock,  and  his  descendants 
were  splendid  birds,  and  as  he  had  nothing  to  fight  with  he  was 
very  peaceable.  Now,  as  a  single  pen  of  say  six  hens  would  fur- 
nish all  the  eggs  that  I  needed  for  hatching,  there  would  be  no 
necessity  for  keei)ing  more  than  one  cock,  so  this  objection  would 
be  done  away  with.  I  tried  to  find  a  good  cock  that  I  might  use 
at  once,  but  without  success,  so  I  jirocured  some  eggs  from  a  noted 
breeder  and  thus  hoped  to  be  ready  for  next  year. 

Meantime  I  determined    to    get   a  good    cock    of  some    other 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  29 

breed  so  as  to  have  eggs  for  raising  chickens  at  once.  Wliat 
breed  sliould  I  get  ? 

It  is  a  curious  tact  that  the  books  tell  us  very  little  about  the 
breeding,  and  especially  the  crossing,  of  different  breeds  of  poultry. 
Even  ponderous  octavos,  which  would  seem  from  their  bulk  to  be 
exhaustive,  do  not  touch  ui)on  the  subject.  I  was  therefore  left  to 
work  it  out  myself  as  best  I  might. 

It  is  a  well-established  rule  in  breeding,  that  the  male  should 
always,  if  possible,  be  a  thoroughbred.  It  is  true  that  in  fowls  it 
is  sometimes  difficult  to  say  what  varieties  are  thoroughbred,  and 
even  the  question,  "  What  is  a  breed  ?  "  has  elicited  long  discus- 
sions, as  Avitness  the  nonsense  published  in  the  London  Field,  and 
quoted  aj^provingly  in  Tegetmeier's  large  work.  Tliere  is  little 
tloubt  but  that  tlie  ditferent  l)reeds  now  in  market  are  thoroughbred 
in  very  different  degiees.  The  game  cock  is  undoubtedly  the  most 
emphatically  thoroughbred  bird  of  any  that  we  have,  and  it  will  be 
difficult  to  tind  a  cock  of  any  breed  that  will  so  quickly  and  clearly 
im[)ress  his  own  characteristics  upon  a  flock  as  will  a  really  well- 
bred  game  cock  This  quality  he  evidently  owes  to  the  fact 
that  the  breed  is  very  old,  and  for  ages  it  has  been  re-enforcing 
certain  qualities  to  the  exclusion  of  others,  imtil  now  it  possesses,  to 
an  extent  not  exhibited  by  any  other  breed,  the  powxr  of  i)rojecting 
these  qualities  into  its  descendants,  even  though  the  mother  be  of 
a  different  stock. 

The  second  rule  is,  that  when  two  breeds  are  crossed  the  hen 
ought  always  to  be  the  largest.  As  a  general  rule  the  small  breeds 
are  the  most  finely  bred,  and  have  the  most  highly  nervous  organi- 
zation. This  holds  with  all  animals,  including  man.  Who  would 
cross  a  fine  blood  mare  with  a  cart  horse?  Tlie  progeny  would  be 
worthless.  Or  a  small,  fined)oned  Alderney  cow  with  a  Durham 
hull,  01'  even  with  a  sciub?  While  by  reversing  the  cross  and  put- 
ting a  large  well-formed  mare  to  a  thoroughbred,  a  most  useful 
animal  would  probably  be  the  result,  and  a  fine  Alderney  bull  of  a 
good  milking  strain,  will  probably  i)r()duce  a  calf  that  will  grow  into 
a  first-rate  milch  cow,  even  though  the  mother  be  a  coarsely  bred 
animal.     And  yet  I  have  seen  men  who  would  not  have  violated 


30 


COMMON    SENSE 


these  principles  in  their  liorses  and  cows,  and  yet  would  put  a 
Brahma,  Cochin  or  Plymoutli  Rock  cock  amongst  a  flock  of  half- 
blood  Leghorns  or  Ilamburghs. 

Previous  experience  had  taught  me  tlie  value  of  tliese  facts  and 
principles,  and  I  determined  to  secure  a  purely-bred  cock  of  either 
Hamburgh,  Leghorn  or  Black  Spanish,  and  mate  him  with  six 
of  my  largest  and  best  hens. 

If  I  had  been  smitten  with  the  "  Hen  Fever"  I  would  have  been 
a  reader  of  the  poultry  journals,  and  would  soon  have  found  out 
where  my  wants  could  be  supplied;  but  as  it  was  I  had  to  hunt 
about  for  information  as  to  where  such  a  bird  could  be  found. 

One  day  I  heard  accidentally  that  there  was  actually  a  poultry 
farm  near  a  village  about  seven  miles  from  my  place,  and  that  the 
owner  had  several  different  kinds  of  pure-bred  fowls.  With  the 
usual  exaggeration  oi  ignorance,  my  informant  told  me  that  he  had 
^// kinds;  that  he  had  thousands  of  chickens  of  every  kind  that 
could  be  named,  and  that  he  got  enormous  prices  for  his  eggs  and 
chickens,  with  much  more  to  the  same  purport.  I  did  not  have  a 
great  deal  of  faith  in  the  details  of  this  account,  but  having  nothing 
special  to  do  that  afternoon,  I  harnessed  up  Madge  and  drove  out 
that  way.  It  was  a  road  over  which  I  had  never  travelled  before, 
but  fortunately  tliere  was  litUe  opportunity  to  go  astray,  and  ere 
long  I  found  myself  near  the  village  and  opposite  what  appeared  to 
me  to  be  extensive  greenhouses.  Inquiring  of  a  passer  by  where 
the  poultry  yards  of  Mr.  Thompson  were  situated,  I  was  told  that 
these  glass  structures  formed  part  of  his  establishment,  and  of 
course  I  at  once  tried  to  find  the  owner.  I  hesitated  at  first 
whether  to  make  my  errand  known  at  once  or  not.  I  suspected 
diat  if  I  told  him  that  I  had  driven  seven  miles  for  the  sake  of  buy- 
ing a  rooster  he  would  conclude  that  I  wanted  the  bird  pretty 
badly,  and  he  would  charge  accordingly,  so  I  said  that  I  had  been 
taking  a  drive,  and  having  heard  that  he  had  some  fine  poultry  for 
sale  I  had  called  to  look  at  it — all  of  which  was  stricUy  true. 

I  found  that  he  had  some  very  good  poultry  on  hand,  though  he 
had  disposed  of  most  of  his  stock,  having  concluded  to  give  his 
whole  attention  to  a  new   breed  that  had  recently  been  brought 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  3I 

out — the  Plymouth  Rocks.  He  was  quite  genial  and  communica- 
tive, and  sliowed  me  freely  over  liis  yards,  especially  when  he 
found  that  I  was  not  a  dealer.  He  also  gave  me  a  history  of  the 
place  and  of  his  connection  with  it,  a  condensation  of  which  will 
no  doubt  interest  my  readers. 

I  learned  that  the  place  had  not  be!  )nged  originally  to  him,  but 
that  he  had  merely  adai)ted  the  buildings,  etc.,  erected  by  a  former 
owner.  This  I  was  glad  to  hear,  as  it  relieved  from  the  stigma 
of  ignorance  or  stu[)idity  a  man  who  was  evidently  intelligent 
and  well  informed  in  regard  to  poultry,  and  the  buildings  and  ar- 
rangements were  evidently  not  those  which  an  ex[)erienced  poultry 
breeder  would  have  adopted.  It  seems  that  a  i'<i\v  years  previous 
to  my  visit,  the  place  had  belonged  to  a  tailor  whose  business  had 
been  just  sufficient  to  give  him  a  subsistence.  This  man  was 
obliged  to  take,  for  a  trifling  debt,  a  small  tract  of  rather  poor 
land,  a  piece  of  proi)erty  which  did  not  add  to  his  income,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  tended  to  make  him  "  land-poor,"  as  the  exi)ression 
is.  But,  by  one  of  those  strange  turns  of  fortune  (which  certainl)^ 
may  be  called  luck)  some  large  manufacturing  establishments  were 
erected  near  it;  they  extended  until  the  tailor's  property  became  a 
necessity  to  them,  and  he  was  enabled  to  obtain  his  own  price. 
With  the  several  thousand  dollars  now  in  his  possession,  he  looked 
about  for  an  investment,  and  as  he  was  disgusted  with  the  tailoring 
business,  he  determmed  to  go  into  something  else.  Like  many  other 
men,  during  his  days  of  poverty  and  struggling  he  had  often  turned 
his  eyes  toward  some  of  the  smaller  rural  pursuits,  and  chicken  rais- 
ing had  taken  a  wonderful  hold  of  his  fancy.  He  already  had  a  few 
dozen  fowls,  from  which  he  derived  great  comfort  and  profit,  and  the 
golden  promises  which  the  ])ossession  of  a  few  tJiousaiid  of  such 
money-producers  seemed  to  lay  before  him,  had  often  formed  the  sub- 
ject of  his  day  dreams,  and  had  frequentiv  consoled  luni  in  days  of 
dark  adversity.  No  wondei-,  then,  that  when  his  barren  acres  liad 
been  converted  into  golden  nuggets  he  thought  he  saw  an  oppor- 
tunity for  the  realization  of  all  his  hopes.  Four  acres  of  land  on 
the  outskirts  of  his  village  happened  to  be  offered  for  sale  at  a 
very  low  figure;  he  bought  them  and  erected  the  extensive  glass 


32  COMMON    SENSE 

structures  wliich  had  attracted  my  attention.  Unused  to  building 
contracts  and  undertakings,  he  made  the  common  mistake  of  hiy- 
iug  a  foundation  larger  than  he  could  cover,  and  by  the  time  his 
houses,  etc.,  were  finished,  his  capital  was  nearly  exhausted.  But, 
he  persevered,  bought  several  thousand  fowls  (three  thousand,  I 
think  it  was)  and  obtained  his  food,  etc.,  for  them  on  credit,  in  the  firm 
faith  that  the  eggs  would  moredian  pay  for  everything.  On  his  little 
yard  in  the  village,  he  had  kept  twenty  or  thirty  hens  in  a  small  in- 
closure,  but,  then  they  were  fed  on  a  great  variety  of  food,  much 
of  it  waste  from  the  household,  and  they  were  allowed  an  occa- 
sional run  througli  the  entire  lot,  so  that  they  throve  very  well. 
When  the  same  dense  fowl  population  was  transferred  to  small 
coops,  with  no  opportunity  for  an  occasional  run  over  a  larger 
area,  and  where  they  were  fed  on  grain,  and  nothing  but  grain, 
day  after  day,  they  soon  ceased  to  lay  eggs;  the  outgo  continued 
but  the  income  was  cut  short. 

Moreover,  the  great  extent  of  glass  roofing  on  such  a  small  place 
(for  four  acres  is  a  very  small  chicken  farm)  prevented  the  utiliza- 
tion of  much  of  the  ground  for  culture  and  plant  growth,  and 
these  are  always  essential.  The  enterprise  was  a  failure;  the  feed 
bills  became  due,  without  any  means  to  pay  them,  and  the  sheriff 
closed  out  the  entire  concern. 

The  present  owner  had  begun  in  a  different  way.  Possessed  of  a 
small  independent  income,  but  afflicted  with  an  incurable  disease,  he 
had  taken  up  poultry  keeping  as  an  amusement,  and  had  devoted 
his  attention  to  pure-bred  fowls — chiefly  the  Light  Brahma.  These 
he  had  so  improved  and  cared  for  that  his  birds  became  noted 
amongst  his  neighbors  for  their  excellence,  and  he  found  a  ready 
market  for  all  the  eggs  and  chickens  he  could  supply.  At  first  his 
prices  were  very  low — merely  the  retail  market  rates,  but  having 
been  induced  to  send  some  of  his  fowls  to  the  county  fair,  he  was 
awarded  the  first  prize,  and  then,  orders  poured  in  faster  than  he 
could  supply  them,  and  with  offers  of  greatly  advanced  prices.  So 
he  raised  his  terms,  from  fifty  cents  per  setting,  to  $i.oo,  and  then 
to  $1.50,  and  $2.00,  and  still  he  could  not  meet  the  demand. 
His  poultry  became  a  source  of  income,  and  when   the  tailor's 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  33 

place  was  sold  he  bought  it,  intending  to  rebuild  the  houses  and 
rearrange  the  whole  affiiir.  But  when  he  had  obtained  possession 
he  found  tliat  the  buildings  had  been  put  up  by  carpenters  who 
had  followed  the  designs  given  in  the  books,  and  had  not  been 
guided  by  a  man  of  extended  practical  experience  in  poultry  keep- 
ing. So  he  arranged  part  of  them  as  breeding  houses  for  raising 
young  chickens,  and  some  of  them  he  rented  to  a  neighbor  who 
used  them  as  greenhouses.  This  neighbor  had  a  small  peach 
orchard  of  about  five  acres,  adjoining  the  poultry  yard,  so  he  gave 
'J'hompson  the  right  to  pasture  his  chickens  in  this  orchard  in  ex- 
change for  the  privilege  of  using  the  greenhouses — a  most  judicious 
arrangement  for  both. 

Thompson's  business  now  became  larger  than  ever.  He  soon 
became  known  to  certain  city  dealers  who  had  a  wide  connection, 
and  they  bought  from  him  large  numbers  at  very  remunerative 
prices,  because  they  knew  that  they  could  depend  upon  every  bird 
being  strictly  as  it  was  represented.  After  a  while  he  added  other 
varieties  to  his  collection,  being  always  careful  to  maintain  the 
strict  purity  of  his  stock.  At  present  he  had  White  and  Brown 
Leghorns,  Spangled  Hamburghs,  Black  Spanish,  and  he  had  just  re- 
ceived a  new  breed  which  has  since  become  famous — the  Plymouth 
Rocks.  These  facts  I  gathered  partly  from  his  own  lips  and  partly 
from  subsequent  information  from  others,  but  so  well  was  I  im- 
pressed with  the  sensible,  and  apparently  honest  character  of  the 
man,  that  I  did  not  hesitate  to  explain  to  him  what  I  wanted  and 
to  ask  his  advice. 

After  showing  me  over  his  yards  and  explaining  his  methods  and 
describing  the  characters  of  the  different  breeds,  he  led  me  to  a 
small  yard  where,  in  a  series  of  separate  pens,  he  had  about 
twenty  of  the  most  beautiful  Brown  Leghorn  cockerels  I  had  ever 
seen.  These  he  recommended  as  the  best  birds  for  my  purpose. 
Mated  with  good  common  stock  of  fair  size  he  guaranteed  that 
they  would  produce  chickens  which  would  give  satisfactory  results 
both  as  regarded  eggs  and  flesh.  As  liis  price  seemed  very 
moderate — $2.00  for  a  cockerel,  I  paid  for  one,  had  it  i)ut  in  a 
light  crate  and  took  it  with  me.     These  crates  were  quite  ingeni- 


34 


COMMON    SENSE 


ous,  being  simply  a  frame  covered  with  very  cheap  bagging  on 
sides  and  bottom.  The  toi)  was  made  of  slats  and  after  the 
l)ird  was  })Ut  in,  these  were  fastened  with  nails.  Thompson  kept 
these  crates  on  liand  ready  made,  and  he  told  me  that  they  were 
so  cheap  that  lie  could  afford  to  give  one  with  every  bird  he  sold. 

As  I  drove  home  that  afternoon  I  could  not  help  thinking  a 
good  deal  about  what  I  had  seen  and  heard.  I  had  always  been 
a  reader  of  the  journals  devoted  to  comitry  life,  and  was  fully  aware 
that  the  attempts  to  raise  poultry  on  a  large  scale  had  been  numer- 
ous, persistent,  and  in  many  cases  carried  out  with  great  intelli- 
gence and  enterprise,  and  with  abundant  capital.  And  yet,  so  far 
as  I  then  knew,  all  these  attempts  had  failed,  and  I  have  not 
learned  to  the  contrary  yet.*  And  the  question  then  arose  and 
pressed  itself  upon  my  attention  :  Is  failure  a  necessary'  sequel  to  all 
such  attempts  ?  It  argued,  of  course,  even  to  my  own  mind,  that  I 
had  a  good  deal  of  self  conceit  when  I  decided  that  success  could 
be  attained;  that  there  was  no  absolute  obstacle  in  the  way,  and  in 
all  the  plans  that  had  come  under  my  observation  I  could  see  that 
there  were  glaring  defects  that  must  of  necessity  cause  failure. 
Some  had  failed  because  their  quarters  were  too  cramped.  I 
called  to  mind  one  man — and,  strange  to  say,  a  medical  man  at 
that — who  attempted  to  keep  nearly  300  fowls  on  a  space  that 
should  barely  have  accommodated  fifty.  He  was  thoroughly 
"  scientific,"  and  fed  his  fowls  on  rations  whose  composition  was 
determined  more  by  chemistry  than  by  common  sense,  and  he 
failed. 

Another,  a  business  man  in  a  large  city,  felt  that  he  nad  a  call  to 
raise  poultry  and  eggs,  and  so  he  established  a  poultry  yard.  But 
although  (perhaps  this  word  should  be  because)  he  purchased 
liberally  of  all  kinds  of  food,  and  procured  fowls  that  were  the  very 
best  that  the  dealers  would  recommend  he  failed,  and  the  reason 
was  obvious.  He  knew  nothing  about  poultry,  and  could  not  meet 
emergencies  as  they  arose,  but  supposed  that  a  hen  was  a  machine, 

*  Since  the  above  was  written  we  find  in  a  recently  published  work — Beale's 
"Profitable  Poultry  Keeping? "—the  following  statement :  "There  is  little  talk 
now  of  establishing  poultry  farms  pure  and  simple,  which  never  have,  and  we 
do  not  think  ever  will,  succeed." 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  35 

and  that  all  you  had  to  do  was  to  wmd  her  up  three  times  a  day 
with  a  little  corn  and  the  eggs  would  roll  into  the  hopper. 

These  are  not  imaginary  instances,  but  actual  cases.  Of  minor 
instances  the  number  is  innumerable,  and  I  myself  have  known  at 
least  a  dozen  people  who  have  been  smitten  with  the  hen  fever  nnd 
have  sunk  money.  But  all  this  did  not  fully  convince  me  that 
poultry  could  not  be  kept,  or  that  /could  not  keep  it  profitably. 

I  have  been  told  that  in  the  famous  "Warwick  Woodlands,"  so 
well  described  by  Frank  Forrester,  there  is  a  poultry  farm  managed 
by  a  colored  man  who  keeps  3,000  fowls  and  makes  a  handsome 
profit.  There  is  also  the  poultiy  establishment  of  Mr.  Baker,  in 
New  Jersey,  in  which  eighty  thousand  dollars  have  been  invested 
in  houses,  incubators,  etc.,  etc.  In  regard  to  the  financial  success 
of  this  enterprise  I  am  not  informed.  The  gigantic  establishments 
of  De  Sora,  Don  San  Fuentes,  etc.,  etc.,  so  gra[)hically  described 
by  Burnham,  Lewis  and  others,  are  mere  myths,  and  have  no 
existence. 

Looking  back  over  an  experience  of  many  years  I  could  recall 
my  first  acquaintance  witli  the  poultry  yard,  where  the  liens  were 
always  a  source  of  ready  money  at  times  when  other  crops  were 
not  available.  And  even  now  I  could  recall  from  that  long-past 
experience  facts  and  methods  which  seem  to  be  forgotten,  and  yet 
are  well  worthy  of  being  kept  in  use.  In  those  days  there  were  no 
stolen  nests — no  lost  eggs,  and  yet  our  poultry  had  free  range  over 
many  acres — those  i)laces  from  which  they  were  to  be  excluded 
being  carefully  fenced  so  as  to  keep  the  poultry  out.  Well  do  I 
remember  how  we  depended,  with  a  trust  that  I  never  remember 
to  have  been  betrayed,  upon  the  hens  returnmg  to  their  own  roosts, 
at  night.  Although  they  numbered  some  hundreds,  and  during! 
the  day  spread  themselves  over  a  wide  expanse,  they  always  re- 
turned at  eventide.  In  those  days  no  laying  hen  ever  I^ft  her 
house  in  the  morning  until  she  had  laid  her  egg  It  is  tlie  easiest 
thing  in  the  world  to  tell  whether  or  not  a  hen  is  going  to  lay  an 
egg  during  the  next  twelve  hours;  and  well  do  I  remember  out 
old  hen  wife  examining  each  hen,  and  letting  those  without  eggs 
go,  while  those  that  were  going  to  lay  were  kept  in.     When  a  small 


^6  COMMON    SENSE 

boy  I  used  often  to  be  pressed  into  the  service  of  catching  the  hens 
in  the  hen  house  during  the  operation  of  "  trying  the  liens."  And 
the  hens  being  always  kindly  treated  and  frequently  handled  were 
not  difficult  to  catch. 

'I'hen,  I  remember,  how,  years  ago,  when  we  first  went  to  house- 
keei)ing  in  our  own  home,  we  resolved  to  have  fresh  eggs  for  our 
table,  and  not  be  disgusted  with  occasional  stale  eggs,  which  pre- 
vented all  further  enjoyment  of  that  meal.  And  so  1  made  a  small 
house  that  two  men  could  easily  carry  about,  and  with  i)ort:)ble  fenc- 
ing, almost  the  same  as  that  described  in  this  book,  I  made  a  small 
yard  in  which  I  kept  half  a  dozen  Light  Brahma  pullets,  that  kept 
us  in  eggs  nearly  the  whole  year  round.  And,  I  had  not  forgotten 
the  success  with  which  I  raised  some  of  the  handsomest  birds  that 
had  been  seen  in  that  locality— birds,  to  which  people  walking 
past  our  city  lot,  would  give  no  meie  i)assing  glance,  but  would 
stand  still  to  admire.  This  was  ihe  first  instance  1  had  ever 
seen  of  a  movable  coop  designed  to  enable  us  to  give  the  birds 
fresh  ground  whenever  we  desired  to  do  so,  and  to  raise  crops  on 
the  soil  which  diey  had  at  the  same  time  both  enriched  and  de- 
filed. 

These  things  I  looked  back  ui)on  with  pleasure.  Not  that 
diey  had  been  very  profitable — they  were  on  too  small  a  scale  for 
that — but,  because  I  felt  that  I  was  not  without  a  certain  fiuiiiliarity 
with  the  subject,  and,  consequently,  I  would  probably  be  able  to 
steer  clear  of  any  glaring  mistakes  at  first. 

Such  thoughts  occupied  my  mind  as  we  jogged  along,  and  I 
sujipose  Madge  often  wondered  why  her  old  master  did  not  keep  a 
tighter  rein,  and  watch  for  her  stumbling.  It  was  dark  when  I  got 
home,  so  I  put  die  litde  rooster  in  Madge's  stable  and  left  them 
for  the  night. 

During  my  waking  hours,  poultry  occupied  my  chief  attention. 
The  barren  soil  along  the  cliffs;  the  unoccupied  land  on  the  east, 
the  use  of  which  I  could  have  for  the  asking;  the  necessity  for 
something  to  profitably  occupy  my  dme  and  effort,  all  passed  he- 
fore  me  in  vivid  and  earnest  thought.  I  saw  die  uselessness  of  this 
land  for  everything  else,  and  its  great  value  for  a  poultry  range, 


IN   THE   POULTRY   YARD.  37 

and  the  idea  impressed  itself  upon  my  mind  that,  while  poultry  keep- 
ing could  not  be  expected  to  lead  to  fortune,  it  might  afford  a  very 
pleasant  and  very  efficient  means  of  adding  to  a  slender  income. 
But  so  much  had  been  attempted  in  tliis  direction,  and  always  with 
failure,  that,  after  all,  I  could  not  help  regarding  the  project  with  a 
good  deal 'of  doubt.  The  "hen  fever,"  the  "poultry  craze,"  and 
the  "  cliicken  mania,"  Avell-known  forms  of  speculative  dementia, 
had  ruined  thousands,  and  therefore  I  resolved  to  bayish  it 
from  my  mind.  With  this  I  fell  asleep,  and  when  I  woke  the  sun 
was  shining  brightly  through  my  bed-room  window. 


38  COMMON    SENSE 


Arcing  to  Jntproue  tl)e  ODlb  Stock. 

WAS  up  betimes  next  morning,  and  my  first  errand  was 
to  the  stable,  where  the  new  cock  had  been  left.  I 
found  him  roosting  quietly  on  the  side  of  Madge's  stall, 
and  as  he  rose  up  when  I  entered,  I  got  a  very  good  view  of  him. 
I  could  see  that  he  was  just  what  I  wanted.  Plumj),  yet  not  logy ; 
clear  eye,  and  bright  comb  and  watdes ;  firni,  bright,  springy 
feathers,  that  felt  wiry,  yet  not  harsh — ^just  the  opposite  to  the  soft 
fluff  that  hangs  round  the  necks  of  weakly-bred  fowls;  bold,  erect 
carriage,  seemingly  fearless  of  anything.  He  was  just  the  bird  I 
had  been  looking  for.  I  knew  little  about  "standard,"  and  cared 
less;  adjudge"  might  have  cut  down  his  "points,"  so  that  he 
would  not  score  "  40"  out  of  a  possible  "  100,"  but  according  to 
my  way  of  judging  he  scored  over  "  90  "  at  least,  and,  joking  aside, 
I  beheve  he  was  a  good  bird,  even  according  to  the  standard;  for, 
as  I  afterwards  learned,  Thompson's  stock  was  noted  amongst  the 
dealers  for  careful  breeding.  From  my  talk  with  him  the  day 
before  I  found  that  he  was  a  judicious,  conscientious  breeder,  and 
that  I  ran  little  risk  of  getting  a  bird  with  a  bar  sinister  on  his 
escutcheon.  And  this  is  an  important  point,  for  crosses  are  very 
apt  to  crop  out  in  after  breeding,  while  so  various  are  the  different 
shades  of  plumage  of  dunghill  fowls,  that  amongst  even  common 
birds  some  are  occasionally  found  that  show  many  of  the  points 
of  thoroughbreds.  But  while  these  individual  birds  may  show 
great  excellence,  their  progeny  are  sure  to  be  mixed  in  color,  and 
with  every  variety  of  shape  and  quality  as  layers  and  meat-pro- 
ducers. 

Some  of  my  friends  were  a  little  surprised  that  I  did  not  select  a 
larger  breed,  so  that  by  crossing  with  some  of  my  large  hens  I 
could  get  good-sized  fowls  for  the  table.  But  my  experience  had 
been  that  the  size  of  the  cock  is  not  of  so  much  importance.    Some 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  39 

years  ago  a  friend  had  a  game  cock  whicli  he  did  not  wish  to  part 
with,  and  yet  could  not  very  well  keep,  so  he  let  me  have  the  bird 
for  a  time.  He  was  a  very  handsome,  vigorous  fellow,  but  small — 
less  than  5  lbs.  I  mated  him  with  some  hens  that  were  part 
Brahma,  part  Dominique,  and  looked  a  good  deal  like  the  Plyin- 
outli  Rocks  of  to-day.  They  wei-e  fine  large  hens,  and  tlie  progeny 
of  these  fowls  and  the  game  cock  were  very  liandsome  and  very 
large.  Most  of  them  had  pencilled  necks,  and  looked  like  what 
are  sometimes  called  "  Pheasants."  Others  were  of  various  colors, 
but  all  were  well-shaped,  vigorous  fowls,  and  the  pullets  proved  to 
be  good  layers.  The  cockerels  were  heavy  and  of  delicious  flavor. 
The  finest  became  the  pet  of  our  servant  girl,  and  as  she  had  taken 
great  care  of  the  poultry  I  allo\ved  her  to  keep  him,  although 
against  my  better  judgment.  At  two  years  old  he  weighed  12)^ 
pounds,  and  was  universally  admired  for  his  fine  looks,  but  his 
])iogeny  (although  breeding  in-and-in  was  carefully  avoided)  were 
very  inferior  to  the  chickens  of  the  previous  season  when  the  game 
cock  was  at  the  head  of  the  yard. 

Now,  the  Brown  Leghoin  is  as  nearly  a  thoroughbred  as  can  be 
had,  and  as  this  breed  is  noted  for  laying  qualities  I  felt  certain 
that  my  choice  had  been  a  judicious  one.  But,  like  many  other 
men,  I  had  secured  the  bird  without  having  a  place  to  put  it.  To 
have  let  him  loose  amongst  the  large  flock  of  hens  would  have 
ruined  him  and  done  the  hens  very  little  good.  Where  could  I  put 
him  ? 

In  one  corner  of  the  barn  was  a  small  room  which  had  been  used 
for  a  storeroom,  but  was  now  empty.  It  was  about  10  feet  by  12, 
with  a  good-sized  window.  So  I  sent  to  a  saw-mill  for  a  barrel  of 
sawdust,  with  which  to  keep  the  floor  clean,  provided  troughs  for 
food  and  water,  nests  for  the  egg  layers,  and  placed  a  stout  pole, 
about  3  inches  in  diameter,  across  one  corner  as  a  perch.  With 
my  present  experience  I  would  not  have  used  sawdust,  but  would 
have  taken  dry  sand,  which  is  far  better  and  much  cheaper,  as  it 
can  be  had  for  the  cartage.  Dry  earth  is  belter  still  on  brick, 
stone  or  earthern  floors,  but  on  wooden  floors  it  is  apt  to  produce 
decay,  since,  no  matter  how  dry  it  may  be  when  it  is  put  in,  the 


40  COMMON    SENSE 

bottom  of  the  bed  of  earth  will  become  damp,  and  in  time  will  rot 
the  floor. 

The  nest  boxes  were  simply  small  packing  boxes,  not  less  than 
12  inches  in  any  dimension.  They  were  prepared  by  removing  all 
the  top  or  covers  except  about  3  inches  at  one  edge;  this  was 
firmly  nailed  on,  and  when  the  box  was  laid  on  its  side  the  strip 
formed  a  ledge  which  kept  the  straw  and  eggs  from  rolling  out. 
Such  nest  boxes  are  cheap,  easily  moved,  easily  cleaned,  and,  when 
set  with  the  opening  about  ten  inches  from  a  wall,  they  afford  that 
secrecy  which  hens  love  so  much. 

Meanwhile,  the  hens  in  the  large  poultry  house  had  been  kept 
shut  up  all  morning.  I  now  examined  them,  selected  three  that  I 
thought  would  mate  well  with  the  Brown  Leghorn,  and  placed 
tiiem  in  the  room  I  had  fixed  up.  As  there  had  been  no  cock  in 
the  large  yard  for  over  two  weeks  I  felt  pretty  sure  that  any  chick- 
ens that  might  be  hatched  would  1j€  the  progeny  of  the  Brown 
Leghorn,  and  I  also  knew,  from  former  exjierience,  that  after  these 
hens  had  been  with  the  Leghorn  for  a  week  the  eggs  would  be 
fertile. 

The  next  step  was  to  prepare  a  proper  coop  out  doors.  On  the 
place  was  a  packing  case  which  had  been  sent  from  the  city  with 
an  organ.  The  organ  had  been  sold  by  Brown  just  before  he 
moved  away,  and  was  purchased  by  a  party  in  the  village,  and  as 
the  case  was  not  needed  for  such  a  short  journey  it  was  probably 
forgotten.  At  any  rate  it  was  mine  now,  so  I  removed  the  bottom 
and  used  the  boards  to  increase  the  height  of  the  case,  and  Avith  a 
little  extra  lumber  I  soon  had  a  very  comfortable  little  house,  amply 
sufficient  for  seven  hens  and  the  rooster.  The  door  was  a  small 
affair,  just  enough  to  let  a  good-sized  boy  or  small  man  creep  in, 
but  as  the  eggs  were  reached  from  the  outside,  and  as  the  house 
was  never  cleaned  except  by  moving  it,  a  door  was  perhaps  not  a 
necessity. 

The  next  thing  was  the  fence.  I  made  several  lengths  of  port- 
able lath  fence,  the  same  as  that  hereafter  described,  and  enclosed 
a  space  32  feet  long  and  16  feet  wide  at  one  end,  and  16  feet  and 
the  width  of  the  house  at  the  other.     The  hens  were  large,  with  a 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  4I 

good  deal  of  Brahma  blood,  so  that  a  low  fence  easily  kept  them 
in  ;  but  the  cock  would  have  required  a  ten-foot  fence,  and,  indeed, 
I  doubt  if  even  that  would  have  confinetl  him  against  liis  will.  So 
I  just  sliaved  off  the  feathery  ])art  from  the  quills  of  one  wing,  and 
after  that  the  height  of  fence  necessary  to  restrain  him  was  limited 
by  his  power  of  jumping,  and  which,  by  the  way,  was  by  no  means 
contemptible. 

It  did  not  take  long  to  get  the  new  house  in  order.  Laying 
plans  and  getting  material  consumed  more  time  than  did  the  actual 
work,  but  on  the  evening  of  the  second  day  we  had  the  three  hens 
first  selected,  safely  in  their  new  quarters.  As  they  had  been  two 
days  in  company  with  the  cock  I  was  satisfied  that  the  eggs  would 
soon  i)rove  fertile,  so  I  selected  two  more  hens  and  ])laced  them  in 
the  storeroom,  and  next  day  I  added  two  more,  thus  making  seven 
breeding  hens  in  all.  On  the  fifth  day  I  placed  the  cock  in  the 
out-door  COO})  with  the  three  hens  first  selected,  and  as  soon  as  the 
hens  in  the  storeroom  had  laid  four  eggs  each,  I  placed  them  in 
the  coop  and  gathered  all  the  eggs  for  hatching. 

The  time  which  it  takes  to  produce  fertile  eggs  depends,  of 
course,  upon  circumstances.  If  the  hens  are  not  laying,  and  do 
not  lay  for  a  week  after  they  are  with  the  cock,  then  every  egg  will 
probably  be  fertile.  But  if  they  are  laying,  then  every  egg  that  is 
develojied  to  a  certain  extent  will  be  sterile.  After  the  fiAh  egg  it 
is  safe  to  depend  upon  them.  These  hens  were  all  laying.  This 
is  an  easy  matter  to  determine,  and  we  took  care  to  examine  the 
liens  before  selecting  them.  During  the  first  seven  days  we  got 
thirty  five  eggs  from  the  seven  hens,  and  these  we  used  for  cooking. 
After  that  we  set  the  eggs  as  fast  as  circumstances  would  i)ermit. 

Subsequent  experiments  threw  this  little  venture  entirely  into  the 
shade,  but  it  may  not  be  out  of  i)lace  at  this  point  to  give  the 
reader  the  results,  and  this  I  am  able  to  do,  because  I  kept  this 
litde  flock  and  their  progeny  separate  for  several  seasons,  having 
regarded  it  with  a  good  deal  of  interest,  since  it  might  be  supposed 
to  serve  as  a  test  of  the  correctness  of  my  plans  and  theories. 

My  object  at  this  time  was  merely  to  establish  a  new  flock  of 
about  fifty  hens  for  my  own  family  Hse,  and  perhaps  the  sale  of  a 


42  COMMON    SENSE 

few  eggs   and   chickens  every   year — the  sales  being  expected  to 
offset,  to  a  slight  extent,  the  money  actually  laid  out  for  feed,  etc. 

As  already  stated,  I  had  only  one  rooster — die  Brown  Leghorn — 
and  on  taking  stock  1  found  that  I  had  just  57  hens.  i\rter  select- 
ing seven  for  breeding  purposes  this  left  exactly  fifty  for  laying. 
Most  of  my  neighbors  would  have  had  five  or  six  roosters  widi 
these  hens — a  useless  expense,  as  I  have  found  that  hens  lay  quite 
as  well  when  alone  as  when  with  a  rooster. 

]]y  confining  the  attention  of  die  rooster  to  seven  hens,  the  bird 
was  not  exhausted  and  enfeebled,  as  he  would  have  been  if  he  had 
been  put  with  the  whole  flock.  The  eggs  were  therefore  more 
likely  to  be  impregnated,  and  the  progeny  more  certain  to  be 
vigorous.  I  have  found,  by  experiment,  that  a  single  attention 
from  the  cock  is  just  as  good  as  a  dozen,  and  perhaps  better,  pro- 
vided he  is  in  vigorous  condition.  Weak  chickens  do  not  come 
from  the  fact  that  the  hens  have  not  had  attention  enough,  but 
from  the  fact  that  owing  to  too  many  efforts  in  this  direction  the 
vitality  of  the  cock  is  lowered.  Of  course  the  influence  of  the 
cock  disappears  after  a  few  days,  and  must  be  renewed,  but  while 
it  lasts  diere  is  no  diminution  of  its  potency. 

By  selecting  choice  hens,  and  breeding  only  from  them,  I  was 
enabled  to  control  the  kind  of  chickens  I  should  have,  and  by 
kee[)ing  them  in  a  coop  by  themselves  I  lost  no  time  selecting  eggs 
and  trying  to  find  out  which  hens  laid  them.  It  may  be  possible 
for  a  poultry  keei)er  with  five  or. six  hens  to  distinguish  the  eggs  of 
each  individual  bird,  but  where  there  are  thirty  to  fifty  this  becomes 
impossible.  By  keeping  the  breeding  hens  by  themselves  all  trouble 
in  selecting  eggs  is  avoided. 

The  result  of  the  ex])eriment  was  all  that  I  could  desire.  We  set 
the  hens  of  the  main  flock  as  fast  as  they  became  broody,  and  in  a 
little  while  we  had  quite  a  number  of  young  broods  scattered  over 
the  place.  Some  of  the  breeding  hens  wanted  to  set;  w'e  gave 
them  eggs  and  let  them  bring  out  their  broods.  Meanwhile,  four 
more  hens  were  selected  from  the  mam  flock  and  shut  up  with  the 
rooster  in  the  room  first  prepared.  After  two  days  he  was  returned 
to   the  out-door  flock,  which  was  now  reduced  to  four,  and  again, 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  43 

after  two  more   days,  he  was  replaced  in  the  small  room.     Two 
days  after  that  he  and  the  hens  were  placed  in  the  out-door  coop. 

The  chickens  from  this  cross  showed  wonderfid  uniformity. 
Nearly  every  one  had  a  pencilled  neck,  the  feathers  being  reddish 
with  a  black  stripe  down  the  centre.  The  bodies  of  the  birds  were 
a  dark  reddish-brown.  In  sha[)e.they  were  excellent — legs  not  too 
long  and  plenty  of  breast.  They  matured  early,  and  the  pullets 
were  most  prolific  layers.  A  few  showed  a  most  decidedly  dung-hill 
origin,  evidently  having  "cried  back"  to  some  long  prior  ancestor. 

Altogether  we  set  37  hens  and  raised  271  chickens — an  average 
of  a  little  over  seven  to  eacli  brood.  S  )me  poultry  keepers  will 
probably  think  this  a  poor  hatch,  but  tlie  reader  must  remember 
that  many  of  the  setting  hens  were  small,  and  not  very  good 
mothers.  Of  these  157  were  cockerels,  which  we  killed,  and  either 
used  or  sold,  and  114  were  pullets,  of  which  90  were  considered 
good  enough  to  keep.  At  the  close  of  the  season  we  sold  most  of 
the  hens  that  were  in  the  old  house  and  yard,  together  with  the  24 
culls.  The  price  received  was  quite  satisfactory,  and  in  this  way 
we  got  rid  of  all  this  old  stock.  In  the  winter  we  placed  the  90 
young  pullets  in  the  house,  but  Avithout  any  rooster.  As  they  were 
late  birds  they  did  not  begin  to  lay  as  early  as  we  would  have 
liked,  but  they  continued  laying  all  through  the  summer  months, 
and,  in  order  to  see  what  the  result  would  be,  we  selected  seven  of 
the  best,  mated  them  with  a  Brown  Leghorn  from  another  yard, 
and  raised  enough  chickens  to  supply  us  with  fifty  good  pullets. 
These  pullets  were  three-quarter  Brown  Leghorns,  and  showed  their 
origin  very  clearly.  They  were  smaller  than  their  mothers,  but 
were  good  layers. 

It  is  astonishing  how  rapidly  a  cross  can  be  brought  back  to  any 
breed  simply  by  using  thoroughbred  males.    Thus — 

The  first  cross  produces  half-bloods. 

The  second  gives  us  three-quarter  blood. 

The  third  produces  seven-eighth. 

The  fourth  produces  fifteen-sixteenths. 
■   The  fifth  brings  it  to  thirty-one-thirty-seconds, 
which  is  so  nearly  pure  bred  that  (ew  people  can  tell  the  difference. 


44  COMMON   SENSE 

My  experience,  is,  however,  that  after  tlie  first  cross  the  purer 
the  progeny  is  tlie  worse  it  is,  until  we  pass  tlie  fifth,  at  which  point 
it  again  begins  to  improve  quite  rapidly. 

The  cross  between  Brown  Leghorn  and  ordinary  speckled  hens 
is  most  excellent  in  every  point  except  one — the  plumage  is  a  little 
too  dark  for  a  market  bird — and  as  fully  half  our  young  stock  will 
be  sold  either  dressed  or  to  be  killed,  this  is  a  very  imi)ortant  mat- 
ter. I  feel  now  that  it  would  have  been  much  better  to  have 
selected  a  White  Leghorn  cock,  but  as  the  question  of  marketing 
did  not  occur  to  me  at  this  stage  of  my  experiment,  I  made  the 
selecdon  I  did. 

In  selecting  the  hens  I  had  tried  to  pick  out  those  that  had  just 
commenced  laying  after  having  been  broody.  There  were  several 
of  this  kind  on  the  ])lace;  some  we  had  "broken  up,"  others  had 
brought  out  a  few  chickens,  which  had  been  taken  away  and  United 
with  other  broods,  and  of  some  the  chickens,  from  weakness  of 
constitution  and  want  of  care  during  Brown's  moving,  had  entirely 
disappeared.  I  do  not  regard  it  as  a  settled  point  by  any  means, 
but  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  eggs  laid  by  a  hen  just  before 
she  wants  to  set  never  produce  quite  as  strong  chickens  as  those 
that  she  lays  previously. 

I  have  always  jiad  a  fondness  for  a  lot  of  chickens  uniform  in 
color,  and  yet,  perhaps,  I  have  been  less  successful  in  securing  this 
than  other  breeder  that  I  know  of.  Brown's  chickens  were  of  all 
sorts,  sizes  and  colors;  pure  black  and  pure  white;  mottled,  red,  pen- 
cilled necks,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  list.  It  was  with  great 
difficulty  that  I  was  able  to  pick  out  four  or  five  hens  that  were 
'anyway  nearly  alike,  but  I  thought  that  next  season,  seeing  that  I 
must  have  a  goodly  lot  of  chickens  from  the  same  mother  as  well 
as  the  same  father,  I  would  be  able  to  pick  out  seven  pullets  for 
breeding  ;  and  by  getting  a  new  cock  from  some  other  yard,  so  as 
to  avoid  in  and-in  breeding,  I  would  be  able  to  gradually  build  up 
a  flock  that  would  do  me  credit.  And  here  let  me  say  a  word 
about  breeding  too  closely.  I  am  perfectly  well  aware  that  a  new 
breed  cannot  be  established  without  very  close  in-and-in  breeding. 
This  has  been  the  practice  of  all  the  great  poultry  breeders,  and  it 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  45 

has  held  equally  in  other  departments — even  in  insects.  In  the 
"  Dictionary  of  Practical  Apiculture  "  I  find  the  law  laid  down  very 
clearly  under  the  word  "  Breed."     The  author  says : 

"  In  attempting  to  establish  a  new  breed  or  to  improve  an  old 
one,  we  must,  contrary  to  the  usual  opinion,  pursue  a  relentless 
system  of  breeding  in-and-in,  and  it  is  here  that  die  skill  and  judg- 
ment of  the  expert  breeder  will  be  most  fully  shown.  We  have  on 
the  one  hand  the  danger  of  weakening  the  constitution  of  our 
stock,  and  on  the  other,  the  danger  of  producing  a  lot  of  mongrels 
without  any  fixed  characteristics.  The  experience  of  all  great 
cattle  breeders  has  shown  that  it  is  only  by  in-and-in  breeding  that 
the  tendency  to  "cry  back"  can  be  eliminated,  and  these  men  have 
also  shown  that  when  sufficient  care  is  exercised  in  the  selection  of 
the  breeding  stock,  the  danger  of  weakening  the  constitution  is  not 
to  be  feared.  In  this  connection  it  should  be  remembered  that  all 
the  well-marked  native  races  of  bees  must  have  been  })ioduced  by 
a  series  of  in-and-in  breedings,  combined  with  a  system  of  natural 
selection,  which  allowed  the  survival  of  none  but  the  fittest — all 
the  weak  and  non-prolific,  and  all  the  poor  honey-gatherers  being 
killed  off  during  severe  seasons.  It  is  the  same  here  as  with  the 
great  herds  of  cattle  and  horses  Avhich  roam  at  large  in  various 
countries.  The  most  powerful  and  active  bull  or  stallion  obtains 
the  leadership  of  the  herd  and  breeds  in-and-in  with  his  own 
cousins,  sisters,  and  even  daughters,  until  one  of  his  progeny,  more 
pow^erful  than  he,  displaces  him  in  turn.  But  here  we  have  the 
weak  and  feeble  calves  and  foals  selected  by  the  forces  of  nature 
with  better  judgment  than  ever  man  exercised,  and  killed  off  by  the 
inclemency  of  the  weather  as  surely  as  ever  butcher's  knife  did  its 
work." 

But  my  object  was  not  to  build  up  a  new  breed,  but  merely  to 
improve  an  old  flock.  Therefore  I  could  not  afford  to  make  such  a 
study  of  my  birds  as  would  enable  me  to  work  out  such  matings  ;is 
would  successfully  counteract  the  evils  of  in-and-in  breeding.  Bu: 
so  far  as  mere  uniformity  and  excellence  of  the  individual  birds 
were  concerned,  my  success  was  all  that  I  could  wish.     By  using 


46  COMMON    SENSE 

the  purest  Brown  Leghorn  males  tliat  I  could  find,  I  kept  gradu- 
ally getting  nearer  and  nearer  to  pure  Brown  Leghorn  hens,  with 
this  disadvantage,  that  I  could  not  sell  their  eggs  for  hatching. 
It  is  true  that  they  were  slightly  larger,  and  more  hardy,  thp.n  any 
thoroughlored  fowls  of  their  kind  that  I  could  get,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  they  were  not  as  large  as  a  first  cross  between  Leghorns  and 
Brahmas,  or  Leghorns  and  Plymouth  Rocks.  After  the  fifth  sea- 
son I  discarded  them  entirely,  and  sold  them  to  a  farmer  who 
wanted  Brown  Leghorns,  but  did  not  care  to  give  the  price  of 
thoroughbreds.  How  they  will  turn  out  in  his  hands  remains  to 
be  seen.  T  understand  that  he  is  taking  great  pains  with  them, 
having  set  off  four  pens  which  he  keeps  enluely  separate,  and  uses 
cockerels  from  one,  and  pullets  from  another,  for  breeding,  so  as  to 
avoid,  as  much  as  possible,  all  very  close  breeding,  and  thus  keep 
the  strain  pure  and  in  all  its  vigor. 

For  myself,  for  reasons  which  I  have  fully  explained,  I  have 
abandoned  this  cross,  as  well  all  crosses  from  pure  bred  females. 
'I  get  better  results  from  females  of  mixed  blood,  than  from  those 
that  are  pure,  but  in  all  cases  the  males  must  be  thoroughbred. 
The  potency  of  the  male  in  transmitting  the  qualities  of  his  breed 
is  in  exact  proportion  to  his  pedigree;  if  niated  with  a  hen  of 
equal  potency  it  is  difficult  to  tell  what  the  result  will  be;  some- 
times the  hen,  and  sometimes  the  cock  will  govern  the  character  of 
the  i^rogeny.  Use  hens  of  less  potency — that  is,  less  purity  of 
breed ;  in  other  words,  use  cross  bred  hens,  and  the  character  of 
the  male  will  be  more  fully  developed. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  47 


facts  anb  fanzicQ. 

HE  balmy  days  of  June  were  fully  upon  us,  and  as  I  sat 
one  evening  watching  the  increasing  rows  of  brooding 
coops  with  their  tiny  population,  I  could  hardly  hel[) 
dreaming  of  the  future  possibilities  which  they  enfolded.  I  had 
already  fully  discussed  in  my  own  mind,  the  subjects  of  truck  form- 
ing, or  gardening;  of  the  keeping  of  cows,  and  selling  milk;  of  the 
raising  of  small  fruits,  and  of  some  other  branches  of  country  work 
which  I  thought  might  help  me  out,  but,  after  the  most  thorough 
and  fair  consideration  that  I  was  able  to  give  them,  I  was  com- 
pelled to  decide  that  they  would  not  suit  my  purpose.  At  the 
sight  of  so  many  young  broods,  I  again  reverted  to  poultry-keep- 
ing, and  could  not  hel[)  running  over  in  my  mind  the  ordinary  cal- 
culations upon  which  the  profits  of  this  business  are  based. 

The  usual  calculation  is,  that  a  hen  can  be  supported  for  one 
dollar  a  year,  and  that,  if  of  a  good  breed,  she  will  lay  twelve 
dozen  eggs,  which  sell  at  various  prices  from  20  to  60  cents  per 
dozen.  Assuming  an  average  of  35  cents,  the  twelve  dozen  would 
bring  $4.20,  leaving  a  profit  of  $3.20.  The  manure,  etc.,  is  sup- 
posed to  offset  the  labor  and  interest  on  house,  etc.,  and  as  the  hen 
may,  in  addition  to  all  this,  raise  a  brood  of  chickens,  it  is  argued 
that  the  profit  ought  to  be  quite  equal  to  the  amount  named. 
Now,  it  seemed  to  me  that,  if  this  were  anywhere  near  correct, 
people  would  have  found  it  out  long  ago.  Still,  it  no  doubt  re- 
quues  skill,  tact  and  knowledge  to  produce  such  a  result,  and  it  is 
not  every  one  that  can  command  these.  But,  the  jioint  which 
im[)ressed  me  most  strongly  was,  that  if  there  was  any  basis  of  fact 
in  these  calculations,  then  235  hens  ought  to  )'iel(l  $750  yearly, 
the  amount  I  needed  to  make  ends  meet,  and  as  I  had  already  on 
the  place  nearly  half  as  many  hens  and  chickens  as  was  demanded, 
the  fact  stared  me  in  the  face,  that,  with  very  little  more  expense 
and  labor,  the  experiment  might  be  tried. 


48  COMMON    SENSE 

I  doubted  the  accuracy  of  both  tlie  elements  of  the  above  calcula- 
tion, however.  I  suspected  that  no  hen,  even  of  the;  smaller  breeds, 
could  be  supported  on  one  dollar  a  year,  unless  under  very  special 
and  favorable  circumstances,  and  I  also  doubted  the  amount  of  the 
receii)ts.  An  average  of  ten  dozen  eggs  from  each  hen  of  a  large 
flock,  even  with  a  judicious  selection  of  the  birds,  and  with  very  ex- 
cellent care,  would  be  as  much  as  could  be  expected.  I  had  myself 
realized  more  than  this,  but  the  flock  was  small  and  exceptionally 
good.  Allowances  must  be  made  for  sudden  invasions  of  disease 
and  accident,  but  these  I  did  not  greatly  fear. 

But,  even  at  these  reduced  estimates,  the  profit  ought  to  be 
considerable,  and  250  fowls  is  not  by  any  means  a  number  be- 
yond what  can  be  easily  handled.  Three,  or  at  most,  four  houses, 
would  accommodate  them,  and  the  labor  would  not  be  more  than 
could  be  spared  from  other  things  by  the  hands  already  on  the  place. 
My  first  thought  was  to  see  what  others  had  accomplished  in 
this  direction,  but  the  records  were  very  meagre,  many  of  the  most 
important  data  being  omitted.  I  could  find  only  two  books  in  mar- 
ket that  professed  to  describe  the  best  systems  and  methods  of  man- 
aging large  numbers  of  poultry,  one  being  the  "  Poultry  Breeding 
in  a  Commercial  Point  of  View,"  by  Geyelin,  and  the  otiier, 
"An  Egg  Farm,"  by  Stoddard.  Geyelin's  system  was  altogether 
too  artificial  for  my  purposes,  and  as  report  said  that  it  had  not 
proved  a  success  in  the  hands  of  the  ori^i^inator,  I  did  not  feel  very 
much  encouraged  to  adopt  it.  Neither  was  die  system  described 
by  Mr.  Stoddard  a(lai)ted  to  my  circumstances.  The  extent  of 
ground  and  "  plant  "  necessary  to  fully  carry  out  his  system  was 
more  than  I  could  command.  Moreover,  I  never  could  quite 
make  up  my  mind  that  the  system  described  in  diit  book  had 
been  actually  carried  out  in  practice.  It  always  seemed  to  me  that 
Mr.  Stoddard  had  "evolved  it  from  the  dei)dis  of  his  inner  conscious- 
ness." And,  indeed,  the  chief  point  upon  which  the  system  is 
based,  viz.,  the  alleged  fact  that  hens  will  not  stray  far  from  their 
own  homes  unless  led  away,  contradicted  my  own  very  emphatic 
experience,  for  my  fowls  have  often  wandered  away  to  a  distance 
quite  equal  to  half  the  breadth  of  his  farm. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  49 

Now,  it  SO  happened  my  wife  liad  ke[)t  accurate  accounts  of  all 
our  income  and  outgo  in  regard  to  the  hens,  and  although  the  con- 
ditions were  not  quite  th  j  same  as  now,  yet  they  were  sufficiently 
so  to  enable  me  to  get  at  the  figures  I  needed. 

I  found  that  in  former  years  it  had  cost  $1.25  per  bird  for 
the  year's  sustenance.  But,  in  this  case,  the  cost  had  been  diminished 
by  various  little  items,  such  as  waste  from  our  own  table,  etc. 
But,  as  we  had  previously  bought  all  the  food,  whereas  now  we 
could  easily  raise  a  considerable  portion  of  it,  these  two  differences 
might  perhaps  be  allowed  to  offset  each  other,  and  I  therefore  put 
down  $1.30  as  the  cost  of  keeping  one  hen  -n  food  for  a  year. 
The  receipts  from  eggs  alone  ought  to  be  at  least  ten  dozen  eggs 
at  30  cents  per  dozen,  which  would  be  $3.00,  and  this  would  leave 
$1.70  for  labor,  interest  on  houses,  fences,  etc.,  and  for  profit. 

So  far  the  calculation  was  quite  simple,  and  the  data  not  diffi- 
cult to  get  at,  for  even  if  I  had  had  no  record  it  would  not  have  been 
difficult  to  tell  what  it  cost  to  keep  for  a  week  the  seven  hens  and  a 
rooster  which  I  had  now  cooped  up,  and  then  a  very  simple  sum 
in  arithmetic  would  have  given  me  the  information  I  needed. 
But  when  it  came  to  the  cost  of  housing,  attendance,  range,  etc., 
the  exact  figures  were  not  so  easily  got  at.  A  dozen  or  twenty 
fowls  may  be  housed  by  means  of  makeshifts  which  may  be  said  to 
cost  nothing,  because  even  the  labor  is  merely  pastime,  and  the  atten- 
dance is  mere  amusement.  One  thousand  fowls  cannot  be  cared 
for  in  any  such  way,  and  I  had  no  data,  and  did  not  know  where 
to  look  for  any.  Geyelin's  work  is  very  explicit  on  the  subject,  but 
the  conditions  are  very  unusual,  while  Stoddard  is  singularly  deficient 
in  those  statements  of  time  and  cost  which  are  so  important  in  a 
matter  of  this  kind,  and  which  are  so  apt  to  creep  into  a  record  of 
actual  experience. 

After  nmch  thought  and  figuring,  I  came  to  the  following  con- 
clusions:— 

1.  That  if  the  cost  of  housing  and  attendance  were  left  out  of 
the  calculations,  I  could  make  a  clear  i)rofit  of  $1.70  per  hen. 

2.  That  with  my  present  help  and  facilities,  I  could  take  care 
of  about  2_c;o  hens  and  their  young.     To  do  this  work  there  was 


50  COMMON    SENSE 

part  of  the  time  of  one  man  and  a  girl,  and  so  much  of  ni)^  own  time 
as  was  not  occupied  with  die  oversiglit  of  the  rest  of  the  place, 
and  such  other  calls  as  are  usually  made  upon  a  man  in  a  similar 
position. 

3.  My  present  accommodations  would  enable  me  to  care  for 
about  125  fowls. 

4.  That  by  hiring  a  good,  steady,  elderly  woman,  who  would 
give  all  her  time  to  the  fowls,  I  could  easily  increase  the  number 
to  1,000  birds.  I  proposed  to  oversee  and  direct,  as  well  as  to  aid 
in  actual  work;  the  man  would  do  the  heavy  work,  and  the  girl  could 
find  time  for  a  little  general  assistance,  and  as  she  was  very  much 
interested  in  the  hens  and  chickens,  she  was  always  very  willing  to 
do  so. 

These  points  being  reached,  several  important  questions  pre- 
sented themselves,  amongst  which  were  the  following: — i.  How 
many  birds  can  I  keep  successfully  on  the  land  that  I  have  available 
for  such  a  purpose  ?  2.  How  much  extra  house  room  must  I  pro- 
vide? and,  3,  How  should  I  arrange  the  houses  and  yards  ? 

I  calculated  that  the  paddock  must  be  reserved  for  the  horse 
and  cow;  one  acre  was  already  devoted  to  asparagus,  so  that  this 
left  about  two  acres  of  arable  land,  two  acres  of  shrubbery,  and 
half  an  acre  of  orchard,  making  about  four  and  a  half  acres,  to 
which  might  be  added  the  barnyards  for  the  older  fowls  in  winter, 
and  the  lawn  for  small  chickens  in  summer.  How  many  chickens 
could  I  keep  in  this  space  ? 

Upon  no  subject  did  I  find  such  great  diversity  of  opinion  as 
upon  the  extent  of  ground  that  should  be  given  to  the  flocks — in 
other  words,  in  regard  to  their  range.  The  author  of  the  "  Egg 
Farm,"  allows  62^^  acres  to  5,000  birds,  which  is  at  the  rate  of 
544  square  feet  to  each  bird;  Wright,  the  author  of  "  The  Prac- 
tical Poultry  Keeper,"  in  his  own  yards,  allows  44  feet  to  each 
bird,  and  tells  us  that  they  thrive  well.  He  also  tells  us  that  he  has 
known  of  "fowls"  being  kept  on  a  space  of  12  feet  by  3.  This 
is  at  the  rate  of  7,6  square  feet  for  several  birds — say  3  to  5 — or 
with  an  allowance  of  from  12  to  7  square  feet  for  each. 

Geyelin  in  his    "  Poultry  Breeding  in  a  Commercial  Point  of 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  5 1 

View,"  descriljes  his  "poultry  homes"  intended  for  6  hens  and 
I  cock,  for  breeding,  or  12  laying  hens,  as  being  21  feet  by  3. 
Tliis  is  66  square  feet  to  12  hens,  or  ^^4  square  feet  to  each 
bird. 

Warren  Leland,  a  very  successful  poultry  keeper,  allows  four  and 
a  half  acres  of  hind  to  each  thousand  birds.  'I'his  is  at  the  rate 
of  196  square  feet  to  each  bird. 

The  editor  of  the  Massachusetts  PlougJiDiaii  allows  6  acres  of 
rocky  land  to  each  1,000  birds.  This  gives  261  square  feet  to  each 
bird. 

In  former  years  I  had  kept  twelve  birds  in  good  health  and  un- 
usual productiveness  in  a  yard  16  feet  long  and  8  feet  witle  which 
gave  very  little  over  12  square  feet  to  each  bird.  It  is  true  that 
they  were  given  the  liberty  of  the  whole  garden  occasionally  for  a 
short  time^  and  this  would  of  course  break  the.  monotony  and  enable 
them  to  gather  insects,  etc. 

Allowing  100  square  feet  to  each  bird,  an  acre  would  serve  for 
435  f^o^^'ls,  and  this  seemed  to  me  to  be  about  the  right  amount  to 
secure  health  and  contentment.  On  this  basis,  I  ought  to  be  able 
to  keep  at  least  2,000  fowls  on  my  place — about  twice  the  number 
that  I  at  present  thought  of  keeping.  So  much  the  better  for 
the  fowls. 

As  my  present  accommodations  were  fitted  for  at  least  125  fowls, 
about  8  times  the  present  amount  of  house-room  would  be  required, 
and  this  was  perhaps  the  most  serious  question  of  all,  because 
it  conceined  an  investment  which  would  prove  an  almost  total 
loss  if  the  enterprise  should  piove  a  failure.  Land  could  be  de- 
voted to  other  purposes,  and  fowls  could  always  be  sold  for  nearly 
what  they  cost,  but  chicken  houses  would  be  worth  just  so  much 
kindling  wood,  and  from  even  this  value  must  be  deducted  the  cost 
of  chopping  them  up.  My  next  step,  therefore,  in  making  my  cal- 
culation was  to  fix  u[)on  the  arrangement  of  my  yards,  ami  the 
number  of  birds  in  each  house. 

I  searched  carefully  the  records  of  what  others  had  done,  chiefly 
with  a  view  to  finding  out  how  many  hens  had  been  successfully  kept 
in  one  bouse  and   yard.     I  found  plenty  of  descriptions  of  houses 


52  COMMON    SENSE 

calculated  to  hold  from  one  hundred  to  three  hundred  fowls, 
but  no  account  of  the  success  with  wliich  the  birds  had  been 
kept.  I  was,  therefore,  compelled  to  fall  back  on  my  own  experi- 
ence. 

Turning  back  to  my  earliest  memories  connected  with  poultry, 
there  was  presented  to  me  a  most  distinct  mental  picture  of  a 
rough  poultry  house  in  which  over  one  hundred  birds  found  a 
nightly  lodging,  and  in  which  they  laid  their  eggs.  They  throve 
well;  I  never  remember  to  have  seen  disease  among  them;  eggs 
were  abundant,  and  the  labor  of  caring  for  them  was  not  very 
great.  During  the  day  they  wandered  over  a  large  area  of  farm 
land,  but  always  returned  at  night. 

Coming  down  to  later  years,  I  had  in  mind  a  former  poultry 
yard  of  my  own.  We  had  a  house  which  accommodated  about 
fifty  hens  very  nicely,  but  we  raised  about  two  hundred  chickens 
from  which  we  saved  fifty  pullets,  and  for  these,  quarters  had  to  be 
found  elsewhere.  We  put  up  a  cheap  house  of  rough  boards,  bat- 
tened, and  kept  them  in  that.  They  laid  well,  maintained  good 
health  and  proved  quite  profitable.  But  the  special  lesson  which  this 
later  ex[)erience  taught  me  was,  that,  although  the  two  flocks  wan- 
dered over  the  entire  place  (about  2>%  acres)  and  mixed  with 
each  other  freely,  they  always  returned  to  their  own  houses  to  roost 
and  to  lay,  and  no  quarrels  were  ever  occasioned  by  the  two  differ- 
ent sets  coming  in  contact. 

I  felt  sure  therefore  that  I  could  place  as  many  houses  as  I  chose 
on  the  grounds  with  sev'enty-five  birds  to  each  house,  and  that  so  long 
as  the  general  range  was  sufficiently  extensive  I  would  find  no  diffi- 
culty. I  therefore  fixed  upon  seventy-five  hens  as  the  number 
which  my  houses  ought  to  accommodate,  and  resolved  to  build 
one,  intenduig  to  add  house  after  house,  until  I  had  as  many  fowls 
as  I  wanted. 

And  thus,  after  much  thought,  and  no  Httle  actual  work  in  inves  • 
tigating  the  subject,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  in  my  peculiar 
circumstances,  and  with  my  tastes  and  training,  j)Oultry  was  the 
only  rural  employment  that  offered  a  way  out  of  the  difficulties 
that  beset  me. 


IN   THE   POULTRY   YARD.  53 


Working  (S>nt  a  Ssstem. 


xWING  decided  to  make  tlie  attempt  to  add  to  my  in- 
come by  the  keeping  of  poultry,  I  set  resolutely  at 
work  to  arrange  my  plans,  and  work  out  a  thorough 
system,  so  that  success  might  be  assured  with  at  least  a  reasonable 
degree  of  certainty. 

It  was  my  purpose  to  have  ultimately  in  my  )'ards  1,000  laying 
hens.  I  concluded  to  dispense  with  cocks,  as  an  expensive  and 
useless  addition,  so  far  as  these  hens  were  concerned.  Of  these 
1,000  hens,  I  intended  to  have,  on  the  first  of  Januaiy  every  year, 
500  birds  of  about  nine  months  old,  and  500  that  were  a  year 
older,  the  intention  being  to  get  rid  of  the  latter  during  the  follow- 
ing season,  as  soon  as  they  ceased  to  lay.  This  involved  the 
necessity  of  raising  500  choice  young  pullets  every  year,  and  as 
niore  than  half  the  chickens  raised  would  be  cockerels,  and  one- 
third  of  the  remainder  might  prove  culls,  it  was  necessary  that  I 
should  raise  every  year  from  1,500  to  2,000  chickens.  Allowing 
that  each  breeding  hen,  during  the  season  in  which  I  wanted  to 
hatch  my  chickens,  would  lay  40  eggs,  it  would  be  necessary  for 
me  to  have  50  breeding  hens.  These  would  have  to  be  kept  in 
small  pens,  of  say  6  or  7  each,  widi  a  carefully  selected  cock — re- 
quiring about  eight  breeding  pens.  Allowing  an  average  of  nine 
to  a  brood  I  found  that  I  should  need  about  250  sitting  hens  with 
accommodation  for  them. 

As  it  was  now  nearly  the  first  of  July,  it  was  too  late  to  do 
much  this  season,  but  after  mature  deliberation  1  decided  to  i)ro- 
cure  during  the  next  three  or  four  months,  about  500  young  hens  and 
thus  make  a  fair  beginning  for  the  coming  year.  Next  season  I 
intended  to  raise  my  full  complement  of  500  pullets,  so  tliat  at 
the  end  of  a  year  and  a  half  from  this  time  my  system  would  be  in 
full  operation. 


54  COMMON    SENSE 

The  breed  that  I  should  adopt  occupied  my  first  thoughts,  be- 
cause on  this  de[)eiided  to  some  extent  the  kind  of  houses,  coops 
and  yartls  that  I  should  build. 

I  had  liad  personal  experience  Avith  Black  Spanish,  White  and 
Brown  Leghorn,  Dorking,  Light  Brahma,  Dominiques  and  mon- 
grels, or  so-called  barn-yard  fowls,  but  was  not  quite  sadsfied  with 
any  of  tliem.  Still  it  was  upon  tliese  that  I  determined  to  place 
my  cliief  reliance  because,  I  would  then  know  what  I  was  about 
and  all  my  former  experience  would  be  available.  My  former  ex- 
perience, however,  had  not  been  gained  under  circumstances  which 
led  to  a  very  close  consideration  of  the  best  variety  for  market,  and 
as  my  present  experiment  looked  to  the  market  for  its  success,  it 
was  important  that  I  should  keep  this  feature  prominently  in  view, 
and  make  no  mistake.  The  following  points  occurred  to  me  as 
l)eing  essential: — • 

1.  The  hens  should  be  good  layers  of  fair  sized  eggs.  The 
color  of  the  eggs  I  did  not  care  so  much  about,  because  I  was  sit- 
uated between  two  large  markets,  at  one  of  which  white  eggs 
were  all  the  fashion,  while  at  the  other  the  preference  was  for  dark 
eggs.  I  found  that  those  who  preferred  dark  eggs  did  so  under 
the  impression  that  they  were  richer,  while  those  who  chose  white 
eggs  did  so  because  they  looked  prettier.  I  also  found  that  deal- 
ers would  not  give  any  more  for  one  than  for  the  other,  though 
they  would  buy  more  freely  of  tlie  eggs  which  they  preferred. 

Now,  it  was  my  purpose  to  secure  as  many  private  customers 
as  possible;  these  I  proposed  to  furnish  with  eggs  direct  from  my 
yards,  thus  saving  all  middlemen's  commissions,  and  sending  the 
surplus  to  the  general  market,  only  when  it  became  inconveniently 
laige.  I  therefore  trusted  to  the  fact  that  eggs  which  \ytx& guaranteed 
to  be  not  more  than  one  to  three  days  old  would  command  a 
ready  sale  whatever  the  color. 

2.  Since  a  poultry  yard  of  the  size  of  that  proposed  must  de- 
pend upon  its  own  resources  for  raising  young  fowls,  and  since 
fully  half  the  young  birds  thus  raised  would  be  cockerels,  for 
which  the  market  would  be  the  only  oudet,  it  was  necessary  that 
whatever  breed  I  adopted  should  be  a  good  table  fowl.     That  is  to 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD. 


55 


say,  they  should  mature  early,  reach  a  good  size,  and  present  a 
fine  appearance  when  dressed.  Tliis  exckided  all  dark  varieties, 
such  as  Black  Si)anish,  Minorcas,  Black  Hamburghs,  Javas,  etc. 
These  varieties  rarely  look  well  when  dressed.  On  the  other  hand 
full  grown,  and  well-conditioned  birds  of  the  Light  Brahma  va- 
riety always  look  well,  but  the  young  birds  look  "leggy"  and  poor. 
The  Leghorns  look  well  and  mature  early,  but  are  too  small. 
Dominiques  mature  early  and  look  tolerably  well  when  dressed. 
At  this  time  the  Plymouth  Rocks  had  not  been  generally  intro- 
duced, or  I  should  certainly  have  used  tliem,  as  I  have  since  done. 
In  the  common  'strains  of  this  breed,  the  cockerels  are  generally 
light  and  the  hens  dark. 

And  here  let  me  note  the  absurdity  of  the  fancier's  rules,  which 
demand  that  for  exhibition  pur[)oses  the  cocks  and  hens  ought 
always  to  be  as  nearly  of  the  same  color  as  [)Ossible.  'lo  a  sen- 
sible poultry  man,  the  fact  that  the  cockerels  are  always  light  and 
the  pullets  always  dark  is  one  of  the  greatest  advantages  and  for 
these  reasons :  In  the  struggle  for  existence  the  dark  will  always 
supersede  the  light.  White  fowls  never  have  the  stamina  of  the  dark 
ones,  and  perhaps  it  was  a  knowledge  of"  this  fact  which  led  me  to 
select  the  Brown  Leghorn  in  my  recent  ex[)eriment.  Now  the 
dark  hens  of  the  Plymouth  Rocks,  are  to  be  kept  for  breeders  and 
layers  and  with  them  strong  constitutions  are  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance esjiecially  for  winter  layers.  But,  if  the  cockerels  were  dark, 
it  would  be  a  great  drawback  in  marketing  those  that  nuist  be 
killed,  and  fortunately  the  cockerels  in  common  strains  are  quite 
light. 

And  let  me  here  add  in  favor  of  the  Plymouth  Rocks,  that  they 
reach  a  good  size,  and  if  reared  in  a  good  run,  have  a  most  ex- 
cellent flavor.  As  layers,  the  hens  do  not  equal  the  Leghorns 
and  Hamburghs  m  summer,  though  they  are  quite  the  equals  of 
these  famous  breeds  during  wintei-,  and  as  I  have  had  an  average  of 
137  eggs  i)er  year  from  a  flock  of  thirty  Plymouth  Rocks,  it  is  evident 
that  they  are  not  so  very  far  behind  the  best. 

But,  not  having  the  Plymouth  Rocks  that  season,  I  was  forced 
to  adopt  some  other  breed,  and  weighing  carefully  the  good  and 


56  COMMON    SENSE 

bad  qualities  of  all  the  breeds  with  which  I  was  acquainted,  I 
decided  for  the  present  to  adopt  a  cross-bred  fowl  for  laying  and 
marketing.  The  cross  tliat  I  now  selected  was  that  between  a 
White  Leghorn  cock  and  a  Light  Brahma  hen.  I  also  resolved 
to  experiment  with  crosses  between  White  Leghorn  and  Spangled 
Hamburgh  cocks,  and  Light  Brahma  and  Dominique  hens.  Of 
the  cross  between  the  Brown  Leghorns  and  good  common  hens  I 
already  bad  a  large  number. 

Having  decided  what  kind  to  get,  the  next  question  was,  Where 
can  I  get  them  ?  Five  hundred  fowls  is  not  a  large  number  for  a 
poulterer  to  handle,  but  is  so  large  that  it  would  be  difticult  to 
secure  that  number  of  select  breeding  birds  at  moderate  figures. 
Three  methods  suggested  themselves  to  me:  i.  To  procure  pure 
bred  birds  from  reliable  dealers  and  stock  my  yards  at  once.  2. 
To  procure  eggs  from  pure  bred  fowls  and  hatch  them  in  an  incu- 
bator and  by  the  aid  of  common  hens.  3.  To  buy  a  sufficient 
number  of  common  hens — say  four  or  five  hundred — and  cross  the 
best  of  them  with  pure  bred  cockerels,  thus  gradually  raising  up  a 
flock  tliat  would  be  especially  adapted  to  my  wants. 

The  first  plan  was  out  of  the  question  on  account  of  the  ex- 
pense. On  corresponding  with  a  large  number  of  i)rominent 
dealers  I  found  that  I  could  not  secure  fair  birds  for  less  than 
$2.50  each.  This  would  make  the  flock  cost  $1,250 — a  sum  greater 
than  I  cared  to  invest  in  hens  at  that  stage  of  the  experiment, 
though  I  now  look  upon  a  stock  which  is  worth  four  times  that 
figure  as  a  really  good  investment. 

To  the  second  plan  there  were  equally  strong  objections.  To 
produce  500  pullets  would  require  the  incubation  of,  at  least,  2,000 
eggs,  allowing  for  cockerels,  infertile  eggs,  loss  of  chicks,  and  culls. 
Now,  dealers  in  pure  bred  fowls  asked  from  $1.50  to  $7.50  per 
setting  for  eggs  ;  $3-oo  was  a  usual  price,  but  taking  the  lowest 
figure,  $1.50  for  13  eggs,  they  would  have  cost  $231  for  eggs 
alone.  The  incubator  and  its  attendant  would  have  cost  a  con- 
siderable sum,  and  the  only  immediate  return  would  have  -been 
from  the  sale  of  young  cockerels,  which  in  such  numbers  would 
only  have    brought    the    price  of  dressed   poultry.     But   the  most 


IN    THE    POULTRY   YARD.  57 

serious  objection  was,  tluit  at  that  time,  I  knew  nothing  about  in- 
cubators and  tlierefore  the  risk  was  too  great. 

I  was  therefore  compelled  to  fall  back  on  the  third  plan  which 
was  to  purchase  common  hens  in  open  market,  and  build  up  my 
flock  by  degrees.  The  great  advantage  of  tiiis  i)lan  was  that  the 
risk  was  small,  since  I  could  at  any  time  get  as  much,  or  more,  for 
my  stock  than  I  ])aid  for  it,  provided  it  was  judiciouly  selected  in 
the  first  place,  and  well  cared  for  afterwards.  I  could,  also,  secure 
a  few  pens  of  choice  pure  bred  fowls  at  no  very  great  expense,  and 
from  these  I  could  raise  small  flocks  which  would  enable  me,  not 
only  to  im[)rove  my  stock  of  laying  hens,  but  to  carry  out  my  ex- 
l)eriments  of  crossing,  etc.*  I  therefore,  resolved  to  buy  a  suf- 
ficient number  of  fowls  in  open  market,  using  in  their  selection  all 
the  skill  and  knowledge  of  which  I  was  possessed,  and  taught  by 
former  experiejice,  the  great  danger  of  introducing  even  a  single 
diseased  fowl  into  a  large  flock,  I  determined  to  subject  every  lot 
to  a  most  rigorous  quarantine  before  giving  it  the  freedom  of  the 
place. 

But,  in  this  case,  it  was  necessary  to  provide  accommodations 
for  the  birds  before  they  were  bought.  It  was  well  enough  to  buy 
one  rooster  before  I  had  a  coop  to  put  him  in,  but  it  would  not  do 
to  buy  500,  or  even  100  hens,  without  first  erecting  proper  houses 
and  fencing  in  suitable  yards.  I  esUmated  that  I  would  need  at 
least  six  large  houses  and  yards  for  layers,  and  eight  small  houses  and 
pens  for  common  breeders,  besides  at  least  three  or  four  pens  for 
small  flocks  of  such  pure  breeds  as  I  might  wish  to  keep  for  the  sake 
of  improving  my  stock.  I  intended  to  begin  with  White  Leghorn 
and  Light  Brahma,  and  I  felt  very  strongly  inclined  to  give  the 
Spangled  Hamburghs  a  trial.  It  also  occurred  to  me  that  in  my 
miscellaneous  purchases  I  might  find  some  special  strain  or  variety 
that  it   would  pay  to    preserve.      1  therefore   set  out  to   build  one 

*  It  is  surprisinj?  that  we  do  not  see  more  flocks  of  fowls  bred  for  special  cir- 
cumstances wlieu  we  consider  tlie  ease  with  which  a  larire  flocl<  can  l)e  raised  in 
a  short  time  from  even  a  single  lien.  A  flock  of  50  to  75  in  one  season,  from  a 
jfood  hen  mated  with  a  vi-roroiis  bird,  would  be  nothing  wonderful  and  in  the 
second  year  such  a  flock  miirht  easily  be  increased  to  a  thousand  provided  a 
sufficient  number  of  common  hens  were  provided  to  hatch  and  rear  the  chicks. 


58  COMMON    SENSE 

house  and  yard  of  each  of  these  models  and  try  it  fully.  I  knew 
well  enough  that  the  first  of  July  was  in  some  respects  a  bad  time  to 
begin  poultry  keeping,  but  I  also  knew  that  I  had  much  to  learn, 
and  that  it  was  more  easy  to  experiment  during  the  warm  days  of 
summer  and  early  fall,  than  during  the  frosts  of  winter.  Indeed,  I 
afterwards  found  that  if  I  bad  put  off  making  a  beginning  until  late  in 
the  fall,  I  would  have  lost  just  a  year. 

Meantime  our  little  broods  kei)t  coming  out  and  w^ere  grad- 
ually being  dotted  all  over  the  grounds.  The  warm  nights  and 
l)leasant  days  made  it  easy  to  provide  shelter  for  them,  and  they 
were  so  far  apart  that,  at  first,  we  lost  very  few  chickens  by  their 
straying  into  other  coops  than  their  own.  I  felt  greatly  encour- 
aged, for  things  went  on  swimmingly,  but  after  a  time  I  found  that 
the  business  of  rearing  chickens  is  not  altogether  made  up  of  suc- 
cesses. 


IN   THE   POULTRY   YARD.  59 


^om:  Bttilbing. 

'ORE  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  before  the  time  of  which 
I  write,  I  liad  built  and  used  movable  chicken  houses,  and 


was  greatly  prejudiced  in  their  favor.  At  first,  therefore, 
I  decided  to  have  all  my  houses  movable,  so  as  to  avoid  any  ne- 
cessity for  cleaning  the  tioors.  If  made  movable,  the  giound  on 
which  they  stood,  might  be  cleaned  by  simply  plowing  it  and  })lant- 
ing  crops.  But,  on  working  out  my  plans,  I  soon  found  that  houses 
which  would  be  readily  })0rtab1e,  would  be  too  small  for  my  i)resent 
puri)Ose,  and  that  if  made  large  enough  and  movable  at  the  same 
time,  they  could  not  be  properly  fixed  u[)  so  as  to  resist  the  winter's 
cold  without  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  Morever  the  glass  leanto  shed, 
upon  which  I  set  so  much  value,  would  be  a  very  difficult  thing  to 
move  without  taking  it  all  a[)art. 

Of  course  I  might  have  adopted  houses  built  on  a  model  which 
would  allow  me  to  take  the  entire  house  to  pieces,  move  it  to  its 
new  location,  and  put  it  together  again.  This,  however,  w^ould 
take  too  much  time  and  labor,  so  I  decided  to  make  my  large 
houses  stationary  and  with  sufficient  capacity  to  hold  75  to  100 
fowls  each.  The  houses  anil  glass  sheds  were  to  have  clay  floors, 
which  I  intended  to  clean  frequently,  and  the  yards  were  to  be 
moved  from  front  to  rear,  or  from  side  to  side,  as  might  be  found 
desirable. 

For  breeding  pens  I  would  need  a  smaller  house-^one  that  would 
accommodate  comfortably  seven  fowls — six  hens  and  a  cock.  For 
such  a  small  flock,  a  laige  house,  unless  artificially  warmed,  is  cold 
and  cheerless,  and  to  warm  a  house  for  seven  birds  would  be  a  waste 
■of  fuel  and  labor.  1  therefore  decided  to  make  the  breeding  houses 
small  and  very  waim,  but  this  could  l)e  done  and  still  have  them 
easily  portable. 

In  addition  to  pens  for  strictly  breeding  [)urposes,  I  would  need 


6p  COMMON    SENSE 

occasionally  a  small  pen  for  experiments,  or  to  keep  a  cock  by 
himself,  or  to  keep  two  or  three  hens  that  I  wished  to  test.  The 
ordinary  breeding  houses  and  yards  would,  however,  answer  all 
these  purposes  very  well,  and  I  determined  not  to  multiply  models 
and  patterns  if  I  could  help  it. 

My  first  work,  therefore,  was  to  design  suitable  houses  of  these 
[two  kinds,  and  to  construct  one  of  each  as  a  model.  If  this 
model  worked  well,  then  more  could  be  made  like  it,  and  by  mak- 
ing only  one  of  each,  I  left  myself  an  opi)ortunity  to  introduce  any 
improvement  that  experience  might  suggest.  Fortunately,  I  had 
as  a  study  a  very  excellent  model,  though  one  that  was  rather  too 
elaborate  for  the  end  that  I  now  had  in  view. 

Amongst  other  buildings  erected  by  the  former  owner,  was  a  [)oul- 
try  house  of  moderate  dimensions,  and  no  great  cost,  but  the  most 
perfect  in  its  design  and  appointmjnts  that  1  have  ever  seen,  and  I 
have  examined  some  very  costly  ones.  It  was  intended  as  a  "  family  " 
poultry  house,  calculated  for  fifty  hens  and  able  to  accommodate  an 
additional  one  hundred  young  birds  during  the  fall  and  winter, 
while  they  were  waiting  •  to  be  drafied  into  the  fattening  coo[)S. 
Mr.  Brown  told  me,  that  it  was  designed  by  a  friend  of  his,  an 
engineer  of  considerable  talent  and  broad  scientific  knowledge,  and 
he  placed  in  my  hands  the  drawings,  specifications  and  descriptions, 
so  that  I  might  fully  understand  its  construction  and  the  best 
method  of  managing  it.  It  certainly  differed  radically  from  all  the 
poultry  houses  described  in  the  books  (and  I  have  quite  a  collec- 
tion of  works  on  the  subject)  and  as  the  designer  gave  his  reasons  for 
everything  he  did,  it  was  easily  seen  that  in  every  point  it  adapted 
itself  to  the  nature  of  the  fowls,  and  to  the  dictates  of  true  science. 
I  will,  therefore,  give  a  detailed  description  of  it,  and  to  make  this 
more  clear  will  add  an  engraving. 

Just  behind  the  barn  and  on  the  edge  of  the  woodland  there 
was  a  very  pretty  knoll  the  slope  of  which  was  quite  stee[),  i  in  4, 
as  our  engineering  friend  put  it.  The  slope  faced  directly  south, 
and  the  house  was  built  on  the  side  of  this  knoll,  the  enclosure 
stretching  along  the  wood.  The  house  itself  was  16  feet  by  14, 
and  contained  100  lineal  feet  of  roosting  poles  which  gave  an  average 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD. 


6i 


^m 


62  COMMON    SENSE 

of  about  8  indies  each,  to  150  birds.  In  the  engraving,  Fig,  i,  I 
have  given  a  "  section  "  of  the  house,  that  is  to  bay,  if  the  reader 
will  suppose  the  house  to  be  sawed  across  in  tlie  middle,  it  would 
present  the  ai)i)earance  shown  in  the  cut. 

In  the  figure,  the  natural  slope  of  tlie  ground  is  indicated  by  the 
heavy  dotted  line.  The  back  wall  and  also  that  on  the  nortli  side 
are  built  of  stone,  of  which  there  is  an  abundance  on  the  place. 
The  back  wall  was  5  feet  high  in  stone,  and  the  front  wall  of  the 
house  proper  was  of  matched  boards  and  9  feet  iiigh.  The  root 
also,  as  well  as  the  south  end  were  of  matched  boards.  Parallel 
with  the  back  wall,  and  2  ft.  6  in.  from  it,  ran  a  light  partition 
extending  to  the  roof,  so  as  to  provide  an  alley  way  on  this  side. 
In  this  partition,  however,  was  a  long  horizontal  opening,  closed  by 
several  doors  or  traps,  12  inch  wide,  and  hinged  as  shown  at  D. 
The  object  of  this  was  to  allow  of  the  inspection  of  the  nests  and 
the  removal  of  the  eggs  without  the  necessity  of  going  into  the 
house.  The  nests  were  on  the  floor,  and  consisted  of  a  good 
thick  bed  of  tne  fine  grass  used  for  packing  glass-ware.  The  front 
of  the  nests  was  a  sim[)le  board  5  inches  high  and  the  nests  were 
protected  from  defilement  by  the  slanting  board  c.  The  roosts 
were  rough  poles  cut  to  the  same  length  as  the  width  of  the 
house,  and  flattened  on  two  sides  at  each  end.  They  were  sup- 
ported l)y  cleats  nailed  fast  to  the  waUs,  two  cleats  forming  a 
wedge-shaped  recess  in  which  the  i)oles  rested  firmly  and  securely. 
Nothing  annoys  fowls  more  than  a  rolling  perch;  a  rocking  one 
they  can  get  along  with,  as  when  they  roost  on  the  branches  of 
trees,  but  to  a  perch  that  rolls  over  they  cannot  cling  with  any 
confidence.  The  plan  shown  in  Fig.  2  makes  a  fastening  which 
is  as  firm  as  the  wall  itself,  and  yet  all  the  roosts  may  be  picked 
up  in  a  few  seconds  and  laid  aside  while  the  floor  is  cleaned. 

The  only  glass  used  in  constructing  this  house  was  the  small 
window  of  four  lights,  shown  in  the  end  view,  and  this  could  be 
covered  on  wintry  nights,  so  as  to  prevent  the  escape  of  heat 
from  the  building.  The  greatest  mistake  in  poultry  architecture  is 
the  use  of  too  much  glass  in  the  houses.  We  see  houses  with 
glass  fronts,  glass  roofs,  glass  sides,  and  windows  wherever  there  is 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  63 

a  chance  to  get   tliem   in.     Now,  it  is  quite  true  that  on  bright, 
suiisiiiny  days  such  houses  are  very  warm;   indeed  during  briglit 
sunshine  tlie  air  in  sucli  a  house  will  often  rise  to  summer  tempera- 
ture wliile  tlie  tliermometer  outside  is  nearly  down  to  zero.     The 
glass  acts  as  a  "heat-tni[)";  the  sun's  rays  pass  freely  through,  and 
warm   up   everything   on    which   they  fall,  but  tlie   heat  from   the 
interior  does  not  i)ass  out  through  the  glass  so  readily,  as  its  inten- 
sity is  greatly  lowered.     The  consequence  is  that  more  heat  passes 
in   than  can   pass  out,  and  the  whole  house  be- 
comes warmed  up.     But,   as  soon   as  the  Sun's 
rays  are  cut  off  by  clouds  or  night,  there  is  no 
more  heat  [)assing  in,  while  the  out-going  heat  is 
as  much  as  ever.    'J'he  house  then  becomes  rapidly 
cold,  and  the  fowls  will  be  fiost-bitten   in   such 
houses  when  they  would  have  escaped  if  kept  in  an 
old  lean-to  or  even  in  a  large  cask.    Therefore,  if 
we  would  keep  our  fowls  warm  during  cold  winter 
nights,  without   too   great   an    expenditure  of  fuel,  we   must   shun 
glass  and  keep  them  in  houses   with  thick   walls   and  roof.     This 
does  not  seem  to  be  undei  stood  by  the  designers  of  poultry  houses, 
and  even  where  a  glass  shed  is  merely  attached  to  the  house  pro- 
per, they  make  the  opening  leading  from  one  to  the  other  so  large 
that  the  two  might  as  well  be  in  one. 

The  designer  of  the  house  we  are  describing  knew  better.  He 
made  his  house  com})lete  in  itself  and  quite  tight.  Even  the  holes 
through  which  the  fowls  passed  from  the  glass  shed  to  the  house 
were  i)rovided  with  doors,  which  could  be  shut  from  the  outside  by 
means  of  a  cord.  In  cold  weather,  there  is  no  danger  of  not 
enough  ventilation.  A  keyhole,  on  a  cold  winter  night  will  admit 
air  enough  to  fully  supply  the  wants  of  three  men,  and  the  cracks 
in  the  best  made  i)Oultry  house  will  always  give  air  enough.  As 
for  the  carrying  off  of  foul  exhalations  from  dropi)ings,  etc.,  the 
best  plan  is  to  neutralize  all  such  by  means  of  i)roj)er  absorbents. 
Fully  imj)resscd  with  these  facts,  the  designer  made  his  house 
close  and  with  walls  })repared  so  as  to  be  the  best  of  non-conduc- 
tors.     Of  course  the  stone  walls  always  maintained  a  moderate 


64  COMMON    SENSE 

temperature,  and  wherever  the  walls  consist  d  of  boards  they  were 
carefully  lined  witli  tar  paper.  This  lining  was  ai)[)lied  by  first 
nailing  to  the  walls  strips  an  inch  thick.  The  paper  was  then 
tacked  to  the  stri[)s,  and  thus  a  dead  air-space  was  enclosed  be- 
tween the  wall  and  the  paper.  This,  as  every  one  knows,  forms 
one  of  the  very  best  of  non-conductors,  provided  the  air  does  not 
circulate  in  this  space.  To  prevent  this  the  strii)s  were  placed  hori- 
zontally— not  vertically,  as  is  usually  done,  and  thus  all  up  and  down 
currents   were  prevented. 

But,  in  order  that  the  full  benefit  of  a  glass  house  might  be  had 
for  clear  cold  days,  there  was  a  glass  shed,  the  same  length  as  the 
house,  but  only  twelve  feet  wide,  built  against  the  souUi  side. 
This  was  constructed  in  a  very  simple,  but  very  efficient  manner,  as 
follows:  The  wall  on  the  east  side  was  stone,  about  30  inches 
high,  and  after  that  of  boards.  The  front  was  of  stone,  and  the  west 
side  of  boards.  The  rafters  were  narrow  inch  boards,  tongued  as 
if  for  matched  stufi",  and  these  were  placed  just  so  far  apart  that 
the  glass  lay  snugly  between  the  tongues.  The  glass  was  then 
puttied  in,  beginning  at  the  bottom,  and  allowing  each  light  to 
over-lap  the  one  below  it.  From  such  a  roof  snow  slides  off  as 
soon  as  a  thaw  comes,  and  it  is  very  cheap.  Large  ventilators, 
which  could  be  opened  or  closed  at  pleasure,  were  placed  in  the 
east  and  west  sides,  as  outlined  in  the  figure,  and  in  the  front  wall 
(that  facing  the  south)  there  were  openings  whereby  the  fowls 
could  go  out  and  in,  to  the  large  enclosure,  or  to  the  0[)en  fields, 
when  it  was  so  desired.  Directly  over  the  front  wall  of  the  glass 
shed,  and  running  the  entire  length  of  the  house,  was  extended  a 
wire  netting  which  effectually  prevented  the  fowls  from  getting  on  to 
the  roof  ami  yet  was  almost  invisible,  so  that  it  did  not  detract 
from  the  appearance  of  the  building.  The  outside  of  the  south 
wall  of  the  house  proper,  (chat  which  formed  the  north  wall  of  the 
glass  leanto)  was  painted  a  very  dark  reddish  brown.  This  en- 
abled it  to  absorb  the  heat  of  th.e  sun's  rays,  whenever  they  fell  on 
it,  and  this  heat  they  imparted  to  the  air,  so  that  even  on  cold  days 
the  air  in  the  shed  was  quite  warm  so  long  as  the  ventilators  were 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD. 


65 


kei)t  closed.     When  the  ventilators  were  opened  a  very  strong  cur- 
rent was  established  at  once. 

In  such  a  house,  without  any  further  additions,  hens  would 
have  done  well  the  whole  year  round,  and  with  100  birds  on  the 
roosts  we  doubt  if  one  of  them  would  ever  have  been  frost-bitten. 
Under  the  glass  shed  our  hens  found  dryness  and  warmth  on 
bright  days.  A  few  barrowfulls  of  dry  earth  placed  in  one  corner 
furnished  one  of  the  very  best  dustbaths — such  a  one  as  fowls 
do  not  ordinarily  get  during  winter — and  when  dry  warm  days 
came,  they  could  go  out  and  .enjoy  themselves  in  the  open 
air.  But  the  designer  was  not  satisfied  \vith  this,  and  therefore  he 
])rovided  means  for  procuring  artificial  heat  during  very  cold 
weather.  In  this,  as  in  everything  else,  lie  studied  efficiency  first, 
and  economy  afterwards,  but  in  all  cases  the  latter  received  due 
attention. 

Warmth,  during  the  cold  months  of  fall,  winter  and  early  spring, 
is  well  known  to  be  a  most  important  point  in  the  keeping  of 
])Oultry  for  eggs,  and  the  one  most  frequently  neglected.  Breeds, 
food  nnd  cleanliness  im'c  all  essential,  but  without  warmth  they  will 
be  merely  wasted.  Much  can  be  done  by  the  construction  of  the 
houses  in  wh  ch  oar  poultry  are  kept,  and  if  the  house  be  small, 
the  birds  will  kee[)  each  other  warm,  and  little  danger  need  be 
feared  on  the  scoie  of  ventilation  dunng  the  cold  seasons  of  the 
year.  Much  has  been  written  on  ventilation,  and  the  general  prin- 
ciples are  perhaps  sufficiently  i.nderslood  by  most  i)eople,  and 
yet,  but  few  have  any  practical  idea  of  the  subject.  Those  who 
have  not  studied  it  experimentally  have  no  idea  of  the  great  dif- 
ference which  a  slight  change  of  temperature  makes  in  the  veiuila 
ting  power  of  an  opening.  On  warm  days,  when  the  temperature 
outside  is  nearly  the  same  as  that  of  the  inside,  the  air  has  scarcely 
any  motion  out  or  in,  and  we  might  leave  small  cracks  or  wide  ones 
without  any  danger  of  "drafts."  Under  such  circumstances,  if  we 
want  to  change  the  air  in  a  house  rapidly,  we  nmst  open  large  win- 
dows, or  even  remove  the  whole  side  of  the  house,  and  so  convert 
it  into  a  shed. 

But,  in  very  cold   weather,  all   this   is  changed.     The  inside  of 


66  COMMON    SENSE 

the  house  is  then  warmer  than  the  outside,  from  several  causes.  It 
may  be  that  tlie  walls  and  floor  are  giving  off  the  heat  they  took 
in  during  warmer  weather,  or  the  birds  themselves  warm  up  the 
air,  or  heat  is  derived  from  some  artificial  source.  In  any  case 
the  greater  the  difference  between  the  outside  and  inside  tempera- 
tures, the  more  rapidly  will  the  cold  air  try  to  get  in  and  displace 
the  warm  air.  Hence,  the  closeness  with  which  this  house  was 
built,  so  that  in  winter  these  drafts  might  be  stopped,  while  in  sum- 
mer, by  opening  the  window  and  the  large  ventilator  at  the  other 
end,  and  removing  the  straw  or  leaves  from  under  the  roof,  a  free 
current  of  air  would  be  established. 

In  addition  to  the  earth-heat  derived  from  tlie  bank  in  which  the 
house  was  built,  and  the  warmth  of  the  fowls  themselves,  the  heat 
required  for  cooking  was  utilized  in  the  following  manner:  On 
the  outside  and  near  the  front  of  the  house  was  arranged  a  15 
gallon  boiler  or  kettle.  It  was  "set"  in  brick  with  a  large  grate 
beneath  it,  and  the  smoke  and  hot  gases  were  carried  through  a 
horizontal  brick  flue  which  passed  across  the  house  along  the  front 
wall  and  about  six  inches  from  it,  as  seen  in  tlie  engraving.  The 
chimney  was  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  house,  as  shown.  The 
brick  setting  of  the  boiler  was  enclosed  with  a  small  wooden 
porch  provided  with  a  door,  and  there  were  openings  from  this 
porch  into  the  building,  so  that  the  heat  might  be  allowed  to  pass 
in  when  desired.  These  openings  could  be  tightly  closed  by  shut- 
ters when  this  was  thought  best.  In  order  to  start  the  draft 
through  such  a  long  horizontal  flue,  the  bottom  of  the  boiler  was 
lower  than  the  floor  of  the  house,  the  whole  path  from  the  porch 
to  the  front  of  the  glass  house  being  made  lower  also.  In  this 
way  no  difficulty  was  found  in  getting  the  flue  to  draw,  especially 
as  we  always  commenced  the  fire  by  burning  a  lot  of  brush,  which 
gave  a  large  flame  and  quickly  heated  the  air  all  through  the  flue 
and  chimney.  There  was  also  a  flat  piece  of  sheet  iron  which  we 
used  as  a  blower.  This  brought  the  opening  into  the  fire-i)lace  as 
low  as  possible.  When  the  fire  was  once  started  the  draught  was 
excellent. 

Now,  as   a  horse,  cow  and  several   pigs  were  kept  on  the  place, 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  67 

besides  the  fowls,  it  was  found  very  advantageous  to  have  a  large 
kettle  for  cooking  their  food.  In  doing  this  the  flue  in  the  poultry 
house  was  thoroughly  heated,  and  from  the  large  amount  of  material 
it  contained,  this  heat  was  not  all  gone  until  morning.  A  sheet  iron 
pi;:e  would  have  cooled  in  ten  minutes;  this  remained  warm  for  as 
many  hours,  and  since  the  cooking  had  to  be  done  anywiiy,  all  the 
heat  thus  saved  was  so  much  clear  gain.  The  footl  was  cooked  but 
once  a  day,  the  fire  being  started  after  dark.  The  animals  then 
had  a  warm  supper,  (exce[)t  the  chickens,  which  had  whole  grain) 
and  the  kettle  was  again  filled  and  allowed  to  stand  till  morning. 
Even  after  a  cold  winter's  night  the  contents  of  a  well  covered  15 
gallon  kettle  will  be  warm  in  the  morning,  and  every  animal  on  the 
place  can  have  a  warm  breakfast. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  flue  runs  close  to  the  front  wall,  and  con- 
sequently crosses  the  path  of  the  chickens  when  they  come  in  to 
roost.  Two  passages  were  therefore  made  through  the  brick  work 
and  under  the  flue  so  that  tliey  might  go  out  and  in  at  will. 

The  floor  was  a  solid  plate  of  adobe,  constructeil  by  first  s[)rcad- 
ing  over  the  ground  a  thick  layer  of  coarse  gravel  and  broken 
stones,  and  then  covering  this  with  moistened  clay  which  had  been 
well  worked.  The  clay  was  then  beaten  solid  and  forced  down 
amongst  the  gravel  and  its  upper  surface  was  smoothed  ofi".  When 
dry  it  was  so  firm  and  hard  that  a  blow  from  the  heel  of  a  coarse 
boot  made  no  im^  ression  on  it.  This  floor  was  coveied  with  dry 
earth  finely  powdered  Dry  earth  at  once  absorbs  the  dro[)[)ings  of 
the  fowls,  and  prevents  their  becoming  a  nuisance.  Every  day  or 
two  the  surface  is  well  raked  over  so  as  to  mix  the  droppings  with 
the  dry  soil,  and  a  thin  coating  of  the  same  fine  earth  is  scattered 
over  the  surface.  Fifteen  minutes  sufiices  for  this  operation,  and 
when  the  accumulated  earth  and  dropi)ings  are  wanted  for  any  ot 
the  crops,  they  can  be  easily  removed  and  .  the  whole  house 
cleaned. 

'I'he  entrance  to  the  house  was  by  means  of  a  door  on  the  west 
side,  opening  directly  out  of  the  alley  way  that  ran  along  next  the 
back  wall,  and  just  behind  the  nest  boxes.  This  brought  the  roof 
rather  low,  perhaps,  but  we  never  found  it  inconvenient,  and   the 


6S  COMMON    SENSE 

lower  the  roof,  the  better  for  the  hens  in  winter.  The  roosting 
place  was  reached  by  a  passage  from  tlie  alley  way,  and  there  was 
a  small  opening  (about  2  feet  square)  through  tlie  wall,  through 
which  dry  eartli  could  be  thrown  in,  and  the  soiled  earth  removed. 
This  opening  was  of  course  i)rovided  witli  a  substantial  sluitter. 

Tlie  shed  was  entered  by  a  separate  door,  which  served,  not 
only  as  an  entrance  for  the  attendants,  but  as  a  way  througli  which 
clean  and  soiled  earth  might  be  passed. 

Such  were  the  construction  and  appointments  of  this  model 
poultry  house.  I  made  a  careful  study  of  all  its  features  and 
workings,  and  found  in  it  the  germ  and  suggestion  of  my  future 
buildings. 

My  first  efforts  were  directed  towards  simplifying  and  cheapen- 
ing the  structure.  'Hie  house  could  not  have  been  called  an  ex- 
pensive one;  indeed,  when  com[)ared  with  many  that  I  had  seen, 
it  WHS  a  chea[)  affair,  but  when  multiplied  by  fifteen  (the  number 
that  I  expected  to  build),  the  cost  was  too  much.  And,  besides,  it 
was  larger  than  I  needed.  1  ex[)ected  to  get  rid  each  year  of  all 
my  surplus  stock  before  very  cold  weather  set  in,  so  that  each 
house  would  have  to  winter  only  its  complement  of  75  hens. 
For  this  puipose  60  feet  of  perch  or  roosting  poles  would  be 
ample,  and  this  could  easily  be  put  into  a  space  8  X  i4  ^^^^ — j^^^^ 
about  half  the  size  of  the  large  house.  Moreover  I  determined  to 
do  away  with  the  })assage  at  the  rear  of  the  nests,  and  allow  the 
latter  to  be  entered  directly  hom  the  outside.  If  poultry  was  to 
be  made  a  business,  somc;body  would  be  on  the  ground  all  the  time, 
and  consequently  there  need  be  no  fear  of  sneak  thieves. 

I  therefore  designed  my  houses  8  X  14  feet  on  the  ground,  and 
quite  low — [)artly  to  save  lumber  and  j)ardy  to  economize  heat. 
After  making  careful  working  drawings  of  all  the  parts,  I  sent  to  the 
mill  and  procured  the  necessary  lumber,  and  my  man  and  myself 
went  to  work.  As  we  were  both  unskilled,  to  a  certain  extent,  we 
adopted  very  simple,  and  what  carpenters  would  probably  call,  ab- 
surd methods.  Instead  of  making  a  frame,  we  sunk  four  posts  in 
the  ground,   sawed  them   off  to  the  right  height,  connected   the 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  69 

tops  with  pieces  of  scantling  and  nailed  pieces  of  the  same  scant- 
ling between  them  at  the  proper  })laces.  The  rude  frame  thus  con- 
structed was  covered  with  cheap  matched  lumber  placed  vertically, 
and  tlie  roof  was  formed  of  the  same  material  and  covered  with 
tarred  paper.  '  There  was  one  small  window  at  the  end,  and  the 
whole  of  the  interior,  except  the  door  to  the  nests,  was  lined  with 
tarred  paper  :  in  the  same  way  as  the  large  house,  and  as  the 
board  cover  to  the  nests  fitted  snugly  to  the  walls,  both  along 
its  edge  and  ends,  the  amount  of  cold  that  got  in  by  this 
way  was  but  small.  The  roosts  and  other  arrangements  were 
the  same  as  in  the  large  house.  The  figure  on  page  70  will  give 
a  clear  idea  of  the  construction  of  this  i)oultry  house,  which,  when 
finished,  was  snug,  strong  and  tight. 

The  front,  which  was  8  feet  high,  was  placed  facing  the  south, 
and  against  it  was  built  a  shed,  but  instead  of  a  roof  of  glass,  such 
as  was  used  for  the  large  house,  I  contented  myself  with  two 
sashes  such  as  are  used  for  green-houses  or  hot-beds.  The  advan- 
tage of  these  was  that  no  ventilators  were  needed — the  sashes 
themselves  serving  for  ventilators  when  the  weather  was  warm.  At 
the  season  at  which  the  house  was  built,  there  was  no  need  of  this 
glass  covered  shed,  except  for  rain,  and  for  that  a  common  board 
or  brush  shelter  would  have  answered  quite  as  well  as  one 
that  was  glass  covered,  but  I  wanted  to  test  the  working  of  a 
complete  house  before  I  went  on  to  multiply  them,  and  so  I 
finished  the  entire  structure — glass  shed  and  all.  Keei)ing  poultry 
at  certain  seasons  and  under  favorable  conditions  is  mere  fun. 
When  the  air  is  balmy  and  the  fields  are  green,  almost  any  shelter 
will  answer  for  even  the  most  tender  little  chicks,  but  when  the 
storms  of  winter  and  early  spring  are  upon  us,  and  snow,  sleet  and 
frost  cover  the  earth,  then  even  the  old  birds  find  it  hard  work  to 
maintain  their  existence.  These  difficulties  I  had  fully  experienced 
in  former  days,  and  I  knew  that  while  comfortable  houses  were  a 
necessity,  roomy  sheds  were  no  less  essential.  For  this  reason  I 
had  put  a  cheap  roof  over  the  manure  pile,  so  that  on  wet  and 
stormy  days  the  hens  might  have  a  dry,  warm  place  in  which  to 


70 


COMMON    SENSE 


be 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  7 1 

roll  and  scratch  ;  but  aUhougli  this  miglit  serve  very  well  for  fifty 
hens,  it  was  but  a  meagre  allowance  for  five  huiulred,  not  to  speak 
of  a  thousand,  or,  as  I  hoped  to  have  at  times,  3,000.  I  therefore 
saw  that  each  yard  must  have  its  own  slielter  and  its  own  sheds. 
Tlie  glass-covered  shed  served  on  very  cold  days  for  a  dusiing 
place,  and  a  sort  of  warm  room,  but  it  was  not  large  eno;iL;h  to  ac- 
commodate 75  fowls.  I  tlierefore  felt  that  a  ])lai'i  slied,  opeii  to 
the  south,  and  enclosed  on  at  least  the  rear  and  one  side,  would  be 
almost  a  necessity,  and  so  I  put  up  one  that  was  10  feet  long  and 
8  feet  wide.  The  height  at  the  back  was  2  feet  and  at  the  front 
6  feet.  During  the  summer,  when  the  sun  was  nearly  vertical,  this 
afforded  a  nice  cool  shade  at  noonday;  and  in  winter,  when  the 
sun  was  low,  even  at  noontide,  his  rays  lighted  up  every  part  and 
made  it  warm  and  dry.  On  wet  days  the  hens  used  these  sheds 
very  freely,  and  so  much  comfort  did  they  seem  to  take  in  them 
that  I  put  up  two  for  every  house.  These,  with  the  glass  shed? 
gave  nearly  four  square  feet  of  shelter  for  every  bird,  and  to  this  I 
attributed  a  large  part  of  my  success. 

After  the  house  was  finished,  the  next  tiling  was  to  surround  it 
with  a  proper  fence,  stock  it  with  hens,  and  test  its  working.  This 
I  did,  and  I  could  find  no  point  in  which  the  house  itself  could  be 
im[)roved  without  greatly  increasing  the  cost.  Of  course  I  could 
not,  at  this  season,  test  it  for  cold  weather,  but  I  had  no  misgiving 
on  that  point.  I  had  successfully  kept  fowls  during  severe  winters 
in  worse  houses  than  this. 

The  only  point  in  regard  to  which  I  did  not  fully  test  it  was  in 
regard  to  the  number  it  would  hold.  The  market  price  of  hens 
was  rather  higher  than  I  thought  they  were  worth.  I  therefore 
contented  myself  with  thirty  birds,  which  I  purchased  in  the  mar- 
ket and  transferred  to  this  yard.  After  ten  days  I  gave  them  their 
liberty,  and  although  they  roamed  all  over  the  place  during  the 
day,  and  mixed  with  the  old  stock  freely,  yet  they  always  returned 
to  their  own  yard  at  night,  and  I  believe  very  few  of  them  laid 
away.  One  or  two  hens  stole  nests  in  the  shrubbery,  and  as  there 
was  no  rooster  amongst  them  the  eggs  proved  worthless,  so  that 


72  .  COMMON    SENSE 

the  hens  lost  their  labor  and  we  lost  tlie  eggs;  but  the  amount  lost 
in  this  way  was  but  small,  and  became  gradually  less.  I  was  per- 
fectly satisfied  with  the  work  thus  far,  and  would  have  at  once 
turned  my  attention  to  the  construction  of  breeding  pens  if  my 
thoughts  had  not  been  directed  to  another  branch  of  the  business, 
as  I  will  detail  in  the  next  chapter. 


IN   THE   POULTRY   YARD,  73 


Bt0obs  Jncrease  nnb  trouble  Begins. 

HEN,  under  ordinniy  conditions,  a  hen  steals  her  nest 
and  brings  out  a  brood,  the  owner  rarely  has  much 
trouble  with  the  chickens.  The  mother  cares  for  the 
eggs,  generally  hatches  out  a  goodly  proportion — often  the  entire 
lot — leads  her  young  progeny  along  hedgerows  and  through  cop- 
pices, and  brings  to  the  barnyard  a  fine  lot  of  strong,  healthy  little 
birds.  And  even  wdien  the  farmer's  wife  sets  her  dozen  hens  in 
different  nooks  and  corners,  and  lets  them  wander  at  will  along  the 
roadsides  and  through  the  orchard,  there  is  rarely  any  trouble. 
The  hens  easily  keep  so  far  apart  that  there  is  no  danger  of  their 
babies  getting  "mixed  up,"  consequently  there  is  seldom  any  dan- 
ger of  their  fighting,  or  of  chickens  getting  killed  by  straying  to  the 
wrong  coop.  At  first,  therefore,  we  had  no  trouble  to  speak  of. 
We  lost  some  chickens  from  different  causes,  but  this  always  hap- 
pens; one  got  its  leg  broken  by  being  caught  in  the  cleft  of  a  split 
board,  and  another  had  a  fracture  from  a  small  stone  which  was 
loosened  by  the  scratching  of  a  hen  and  rolled  down  a  bank.  In 
both  cases  a  good  cure  was  made  by  sim[)ly  wrapi:)ing  the  broken 
limb  with  a  narrow  strip  of  muslin  which  had  been  smeared  with 
very  thick  j)aste.  The  paste  soon  dried,  and  held  the  bones  firmly 
in  position  until  they  had  united.  In  both  cases  the  chickens  be- 
came useful  fowls.  In  another  case,  however,  the  little  thing  wan- 
dered off  and  was  not  seen  until  it  was  loo  late.  The  leg  healed 
up,  but  the  foot  was  turned  the  wrong  way,  and  the  poor  little 
chicken  found  it  difficult  to  walk,  and  impossible  to  scratch.  But 
some  one  has  said  that  everything — even  evil — has  its  uses,  and  as 
an  instance  he  names  diseases,  without  which  he  claims  that  we 
could  not  have  wise  and  learned  i)hysicians !  *     So  this  i)oor  little 

*  To  which  some  irreveront  Phillistine  has  replied  by  asking,  which,  in  this 
case,  was  tlie  good,  and  which  the  evil  ? 


74  COMMON    SENSE 

lame  cliicken  had  its  uses,  for  it  taught  us  how  implicitly  the  lower 
creatures  will  confide  in  us  if  kindly  cared  for,  especially  when 
tliey  are  in  a  measure  helpless.  This  helpless  lame  one  had  no  fear 
of  humanity;  it  would  stand  quietly  and  allow  us  to  pick  it  up, 
expecting  to  be  carried  where  fresh  grass  might  be  liad,  and  as  it 
fed  out  of  our  hands  and  looked  up  in  our  faces  it  seemed  to  look 
upon  us  as  its  natural  protectors.  Some  one  has  said  that  to  the 
dog,  man  appears  as  God,  and,  in  truth,  it  may  be  so.  To  this  liitle 
chicken  we  no  doubt  seemed  an  all-powerful  Providence,  from 
whose  hands  came  food,  and  who  provided  shelter  and  protection. 
She  grew  to  be  a  good-sized  hen,  and  laid  almost  as  well  as  those 
that  were  perfect  in  their  limbs. 

But  when  our  broods  multi[)lied,  so  that  lawn  as  well  as  barn- 
yard was  dotted  quite  closely  all  over  with  them,  then  trouble 
began.  The  chickens  would  run  to  the  wrong  coops  and  get 
quickly  pecked  to  death  ;  the  liens  would  fight,  and  in  their  strug- 
gles the  chickens  would  be  scattered  and  sometimes  seriously  hurt. 
Another  difificulty  arose  :  Amongst  so  many  coops  the  hens 
seemed  to  lose  the  [)ower  of  finding  their  own  individual  dwellings; 
two  would  try  to  get  into  one  coop,  and  then  fighting  and  destruc- 
tion of  the  chickens  would  follow.  By  the  time  we  had  forty  coo))s 
occui)ied  we  had  our  hands  full,  and  more  too. 

I  suppose  that  if  the  grounds  had  been  of  far  greater  extent,  so 
that  the  coops  could  have  been  placed  finther  apart,  this  difficulty 
would  not  have  arisen.  But  to  avoid  it,  the  space  occupied  must 
have  been  enormous. 

Now,  it  is  well  known  that  one  of  the  great  secrets  in  the  rearing 
of  strong,  healthy  chickens  is  the  giving  of  freedom  and  all  that  it 
implies.  Open  air,  grass  to  pick,  leaves  to  scratch,  dry  earth  to 
dust  in,  and  ant-hills  to  explore — these  are  what  go  to  make  healthy 
chicks  and  vigorous  fowls.  But  if  the  mothers  fight  and  kill  each 
others  progeny  when  this  freedom  is  allowed,  what  are  we  going 
to  do? 

The  present  broods  had  been  hatched  in  all  sorts  of  contrivances 
and  make-shifts.  Old  barrels  laid  on  their  sides;  boxes  with  and 
without  bottoms;  old  dog  houses;  a  heap  of  broken  straw  laid  in 


IN   THE    POULTRY   YARD. 


75 


a  comer,  and  half  protected  by  a  short  board  laid  slanting  against 
the  wall;  an  old  basket  with  a  piece  of  sacking  partially  covering 
it;  these,  and  such  as  these,  had  been  utilized  as  the  occasion 
arose.  After  we  had  used  up  such  loose  odds  and  ends  as  came 
to  hand,  I  bought  a  lot  of  cheap  barrels,  which  had  no  heads,  and 
fixed  them  up  as  follows :  A  square  hole  was  cut  m  the  side,  as 
shown  in  Figure  4,  and  the  hoops  were  carefully  fastened  by  means 


Fig.  4. 


of  a  few  wrought  nails,  which  were  neatly  clinched,  so  that  they 
might  hold  firmly  and  yet  leave  a  smooth  surface.  The  barrel  was 
])laced  on  the  ground  open  end  down,  some  fine  grass  or  broken 
straw  placed  inside  and  moistened,  and  the  eggs  laid  on  this.  A 
sitting  hen  was  then  put  on  the  eggs,  and  the  opening  covered 
with  an  old  sack.  The  hen  would  rarely  return  to  this  nest  for  the 
first  few  times,  after  she  had  left  it  for  food  and  water,  but  by 
placing  lier  back  once  or  twice  she  soon  learned  which  was  her 
own  nest,  and  returned  to  it  regularly.  The  darkness  seemed 
pleasant  to  her;  the  roomy  barrel  above  gave  her  plenty  of  air, 
and,  altogether,  these  nests  were  as  good  as  any  that  we  had  for 
single  nests. 


7^  COMMON   SENSE 

After  the  chickens  were  hatched  we  kept  many  of  them  in  the 
old  "tent"  or  triangular  coops — a  form  which  is,  perhaps,  one  of 
the  oldest  and  one  of  tlie  best  where  there  are  not  many  broods. 
It  has  several  advantages;  it  sheds  rain  perfectly,  keeps  the  hen 
confined  and  allows  the  chicks  to  roam,  and  when  the  chicks 
return  they  can  get  away  from  the  tram[)lingof  the  hen  by  retreat- 
ing under  tlie  corners.  But  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the 
young  cliicks  of  several  broods  can  be  placed  close  together  and 
allowed  to  roam  about.  They  will  get  into  the  wrong  coops,  and 
then  wo  betide  them  unless  the  hens  are  very  old  and  motherly. 
At  any  nUe,  our  time  was  sadly  broken  up  and  our  tempers  sorely 
tried  by  hens  that  would  not  allow  strangers  in  their  coops,  and 
after  a  few  weeks'  trial  of  this  system  the  loss  was  so  great  that  ne- 
cessity compelled  the  invention  of  something  different  and  more 
systematic. 

I  saw  that  a  hatching  room  and  brooding  house  would  be  a 
necessity,  and  I  set  out  to  plan  and  construct  them.  By  the  time 
I  bad  fully  realized  the  necessity  for  all  this,  however,  and  was 
prepared  to  go  to  work,  most  of  our  chicks  were  so  large  that  they 
were  past  the  most  dangerous  })eriod.  The  dangers  we  have  de- 
tailed are  most  fatal  to  chicks  about  a  week  old — ^just  when  they 
can  run  about  freely  and  yet  do  not  know  enough  to  run  away 
from  danger.  But  as  it  was  my  intention  to  hatch  considerable 
numbers  of  chickens  in  the  near  futufe,  I  concluded  that  I  had 
better  experiment  a  little  and  get  my  system  into  good  working 
order,  so  as  to  be  fully  ready  when   the  time  of  necessity  came. 

First,  then,  for  hatching.  Although  it  was  the  poorest  time  of 
the  year  for  bringing  out  chickens  (the  end  of  July),  yet  I  had 
several  hens  wanting  to  sit,  and  I  thought  I  could  afford  to  risk  a 
tew  eggs  and  chickens  for  the  sake  of  learning  by  actual  experi- 
ence. 

At  first,  I  thought  of  building  a  small  house  specially  for  hatch- 
ing purposes,  but  after  thinking  the  matter  over  I  decided  to  ex- 
l)eriment  in  a  room,  or  rather  two  rooms,  that  were  in  the  barn,  and 
so  were  ready  to  my  hajid.  One  of  these  I  had  already  used  as  a 
temporary  pen  for  a  rooster  and  hens,  the  other  opened  into  it,  but 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD. 


77 


had  only  a  clay  floor.     The  latter  I  decided  to  use  for  a  hatching 
room,  while  the  other  was  to  be  used  for  a  feeding  room. 

Tlie  hatching  room  was  12  feet  by  10.  This  gave  44  feet  length  of 
wall,  and  as  I  could  have  two  rows  of  nests  tlirough  the  middle,  I  es- 
timated that  I  could  have  between  fifty  and  sixty  hens  sitting  in  it 
at  one  time.  Of  course,  in  order  to  crowd  this  number  into  such  a 
small  room,  it  would  be  necessary  to  have  nests  made  on  purpose; 
old  barrels,  boxes  and  baskets  would  ne\  er  answer.  The  nests 
might  be  made  either  fixed  or  movable,  and  the  latter  had  many  ad- 
vantages. Fixed  nests  would  soon  get  infested  with  vermin,  and 
could  not  be  cleaned  except  by  clearing  out  the  entire  house,  and 
this  might  not  be  always  convenient.  So  I  set  to  work  to  de- 
vise a  simple,  portable  nesting  box  that  would  give  each  hen 
her  own  nest  separate  from  all  the  others;  from  which  she  could 
not  escape  when  once  she  was  in;  which  could  be  easily  cleaned, 
and  which  would  give  the  birds  plenty  of  air.  This  was  how  I 
did  it. 


Fig.  5. 

I  made  a  box,  or  rather  a  crate  (for  it  had  no  bottom  or  front), 
4  feet  long,  14  inches  wide  nnd  14  inches  high.  T'ig.  5  shows  a 
])erspective  view  of  this  box  with  the  door  partially  open,  and  Fig, 
6  gives  a  section  of  one  of  the  compartments.  The  top  of  tlie 
box  is  entirely  covered;  tliere  is  no  bottom,  so  that  the  nests  rest 
on  the  ground;  across  the  front,  at  the  lower  edge,  is  nailed  a 
strip  4  inches  wide,  which  not  only  serves  to  strengthen  the  whole, 
but  keeps  the  eggs  and  straw  from  fdling  out;  along  the  lower  edge 


78 


COMMON    SENSE 


of  tlie  back  is  nailed  a  strip  5  inches  wide  whicn  answers  the  same 
purposes  as  that  at  the  front,  and  in  addition  lias  the  door  hinged 
to  it.  The  door  consists  of  a  single  board  which  is  hinged 
to   the  back   strip,  and  when    raised   up   may  be  hooked   to   the 


\\    A 


Fia:.  6. 


top.  In  very  warm  weather,  instead  of  a  hook,  we  use  a  loop  of 
cord,  which  is  so  long,  tliat,  when  slij)ped  over  the  peg  or  nail  in 
the  top,  it  still  allows  the  top  of  the  door  to  stand  out  one  or  two 
inches  from  the  edge  of  the  toj)  of  the  box.  This  allows  plenty 
of  ventilation,  and  to  prevent  the  loop  from  slipping  off  the  peg, 
thus  allowing  the  door  to  fall  down,  we  push  a  rough  wooden 
wedge  between  the  door  and  the  top  of  the  box,  so  as  to  keep  the 
cord  taut.  There  are  four  compartments  in  each  box,  each  nearly 
12  inches. wide,  and  when  such  a  nesting  box  is  i)laced  within  two 
or  three  inches  of  a  wall,  the  hens  have  ])lenty  of  air,  and  3  et  are 
securely  held  as  prisoners.  Two  boys  can  carry  these  boxes  any- 
where, so  that  they  can  be  easily  taken  out  to  be  cleaned. 

I  made  seven  of  these  boxes,  holding  twenty-eight  hens.  Along 
one  side  of  the  room  I  placed  three,  and  along  the  middle  I  placed 
two  rows  of  two  each.  The  middle  rows  were  placed  back  to  back — 
that  is,  with  the  open  sides  facing  each  other  and  about  five  inches 
apait.  Between  them  was  ])laced  a  board  8  feet  long  and  14 
inches  wide,  which  com[)letely  concealed  the  birds  from  each  other 
and  yet  left  sufficient  space  for  vendlation. 

Every  evening  I  looked  over  the  laying  nests  and  other  })laces 
which  the  hens  were  most  likely  to  adopt  for  nests  for  sitting,  and 
marked  such  hens  as  were  decidedly  broody.  I  had  learned  by 
experience  not  to  trust  a  hen  on  her  first  attempt  to  sit,  for  some- 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  79 

times  they  will  sit  for  one  or  two  iiiglits  and  then  abandon  the 
nest.  But  a  lien  tliat  has  occupied  a  nest  for  tliree  consecutive 
nights  has  probaljly  made  u[)  lier  mind  to  incubnte,  and  may  be  de- 
pended ui)on.  Such  hens  I  transferred  to  one  of  the  com[iart- 
ments  in  the  hatching  room,  gave  her  a  >etting  of  eggs  and  shut 
her  in.  Over  the  com[)artment  was  tacked  a  card  on  which  was 
written  the  date,  when  set,  tlie  kind  of  eggs,  and  the  date  when 
due.  By  pursuing  tliis  course,  I  very  soon  had  every  compartment 
filled  with  faithful  sitteis. 

At  first,  I  let  all  the  doors  down  every  morning  and  waited  until 
the  hens  returned.  Some  of  them  delayed  coming  off  for  some  lime, 
others  came  off  at  once.  The  same  diveisity  ai)[)eared  amongst  them 
in  their  habits  of  returning.  At  this  time  of  the  year  a  ^tw  minutes 
did  not.  make  nuich  diffeience  to  the  eggs.  AV^ith  the  thermometer 
at  80°  even  one  or  two  liours  did  not  signify,  but  during  I'ebiuary, 
with  tlie  thermometer  down  to  zeio,  it  would  have  been  fatal  to  tlie 
unhalched  cliicks.  It  is  true  that  tlie  hens  woiihl  i)robably  return 
sooner  in  veiy  cold  weather,  but  probabilities  would  not  answer 
my  pur[)Ose.  Could  I  control  this  matter  completely  \yithout  too 
much  labor  ?  I  determined  to  try.  1  therefore  attended  to  this 
part  of  the  work  myseU',  so  that  I  might  learn  all  about  it.  The 
hens  were  regularly  let  off  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  mornmg,  and  if 
any  delayed  to  come  off  voluntarily  they  weie  lifted  off.  AH  were 
driven  into  the  outer  room,  so  that  they  might  {*iit<\  and  defecate. 
AH  who  have  had  anvthing  to  do  wMth  sitting  hens  know  what  a 
horridly  offensive  smell  is  emitted  by  the  retained  faeces  of  a  sitting 
lien  Therefore  every  i)recaution  was  taken  to  have  this  confined 
to  the  outer  rooms,  the  floor  of  which  was  well  covered  w  ith  dry 
sandy  earth.  A  hoe  stood  conveniently  in  one  corner  and  at  once 
enabled  me  to  put  an  end  to  any  nusiance.  The  ventilation  was  of 
course  ample.  Food  and  water  stood  in  convenient  troughs  and 
dishes,  and  the  hens  were  never  allowed  to  go  outside.  In  this  way 
no  trouble  in  catching  them  was  ever  experienced.  When  they  had 
been  out  half  an  hour,  they  were  driven  back  to  the  hatching 
room,  antl  allowed  to  return  to  their  nests.  Many  of  them  did 
this  without  guidance  or  assistance,  and  this  was  so  much  trouble 


8o  COMMON    SENSE 

saved.  Others  tried  to  get  into  the  wrong  nest — one  aheady  oc- 
cupied by  another  hen;  it  was  easy  to  notice  this,  pick  up  the 
wanderer  and  place  her  in  the  first  compartment  that  came  to 
hand.  Others  seemed  rehictant  to  go  on;  these  we  caught,  placed 
them  in  a  box  and  shut  them  u[). 

The  success  of  this  system  was  complete.  The  time  required  to 
attend  to  the  hens  was  small;  there  was  no  danger  of  the  hens 
going  wrong  when  the  attendant  was  absent;  no  danger  of  eggs 
.getting  chilled;  no  danger  of  hens  remaining  too  long  on  the 
nest  without  being  fed.  It  is  evident  that  it  made  no  difference 
whether  each  hen  returned  to  her  own  compartment  or  not;  so 
long  as  each  compartment  had  a  lien,  it  was  all  that  was  wanted. 
It  is  true,  that  if  the  hens  had  had  different  i)eriods  to  sit,  it  would 
have  m:ide  some  difference,  but  I  saw  that,  in  that  case,  I  could 
readily  classify  them,  say,  into  one,  two  and  three  week  liens,  and 
let  each  class  out  by  itself.  I  was,  therefore,  perfectly  satisfied  with 
my  system,  and  resolved  to  make  preparations  for  carrying  it  out  on 
a  larger  scale. 

But  when  the  chicks  were  hatched  the  work  was  only  half 
done — i)erhaps  not  even  that.  The  next  thing  was  the  care  of  the 
young  chickens.  Of  course  I  wanted  a  system  which  would  work 
not  only  in  fine  summer  weather,  but  during  cold,  damp  days  and 
with  large  numbers  of  chickens — not  less  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  broods.  Long  before  the  chicks  were  due,  therefore,  I  set  to 
work  to  devise  a  system  which  would  meet  my  needs,  and  as  usual 
I  turned  to  the  books  to  see  what  others  had  done.  I  found 
plenty  of  coops  for  single  hens  and  their  broods ;  indeed,  the  in- 
ventive genius  of  poultry  keepers  seemed  to  have  expended  its 
whole  energies  in  this  department.  The  number  of  such  coops  that 
I  found  figured  was  sim[)ly  astonishing,  but  as  I  had  enough  of  my 
own,  many  of  which  had  never  been  figured  anywhere,  I  did  not 
want  them.  I  was  surprised,  however,  to  see  that  while  nesting 
boxes  and  other  arrangements  for  hatching  chickens  in  large  num- 
bers received  a  great  deal  of  attention,  very  little  information  was 
given  in  regard  to  their  after-treatment  in  large  numbers.  I  almost 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  most  of  the  "  practical "  men  had  got 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  8 1 

"stuck"  at  this  point,  and  failed  to  carry  their  experiments  any 
further.  But  this  was  just  the  point  that  interested  me;  I  could 
readily  hatch  out  chickens  in  any  numbers,  and,  under  my  own 
system,  with  very  little  trouble,  but  when  it  came  to  rear  them  the 
problem  underwent  an  entire  change.  The  f;ict  thitt  I  had  had  a 
pretty  good  trainnig  in  the  difficulties  of  the  case  encouraged  me 
in  the  belief  that  I  could  achieve  success.  So  flir  as  the  broods 
now  in  the  hatching  room  were  concerned,  1  did  not  feel  uneasy, 
for  by  the  time  that  they  would  be  off,  the  older  ones  now  on  the 
lawn  would  have  wandered  oft'  to  the  shrubbery,  and  I  had  enough 
single  coops  to  take  care  of  twenty-eight  broods.  It  was  the  next 
season  to  which  I  looked  forward  with  anxiety. 

I  saw,  after  very  little  consideration,  that  each  brood  must  be 
kei)t  .by  itself,  and  that  for  the  first  four  to  six  weeks  it  must  be 
confined  to  its  own  coop.  I  therefore  set  to  work  to  devise  such  a 
coop. 

The  first  question  that  presented  itself  was  in  regard  to  size. 
How  much  room  does  a  hen  and  say  twelve  chickens  require  until 
the  chickens  are,  say,  six  weeks  old  ? 

On  this  point  I  could  find  very  little  information,  and  I  had 
never  kept  chickens  in  such  a  bird  cage  before.  I  thought,  how- 
ever, that  a  coop  5  feet  long,  15  inches  wide,  and  13  inches  deep, 
ought  to  hold  them,  and  I  adopted  this  as  the  size  of  my  experi- 
mental coop.  It  was  evident,  however,  that  by  using  light  lumber, 
not  more  than  half  an  inch  thick,  five  or  six  of  these  coops  might 
be  made  in  one  block,  and  thus  nearly  half  the  lumber  would  be 
saved,  while  the  whole  coop  would  still  be  movable.  I  therefore 
procured  a  few  half-inch  boards  of  cheap  stuft',  10  feet  long  and  6 
and  7  inches  wide.  Two  of  these  boards  put  together  would  make 
just  the  right  depth — 13  inches. 

Having  cut  the  boards  in  two  I  made  a  box,  without  bottom  or 
top,  10  feet  long,  5  feet  wide,  13  inches  deep,  and  divided  into  six 
equal  parts  by  means  of  divisions  running  across  it.  Across  one 
end,  and  12  inches  from  the  edge,  was  nailed  a  strip  3  inches  wide. 
To  this  was  hinged  a  board  12  inches  wide  and  10  feet  long,  so 
that   15  inches  of  the  rear  ends   of  all   the  divisions   were  tightly 


82  COMMON    SENSE 

covered.  The  1 2-inch  board  could  be  hfted  up  so  as  to  expose  all 
the  divisions.  The  other  part  of  the  top  of  the  coop  was  covered 
with  wire  netting  of  one-inch  mesh.  The  })art  under  the  board 
cover  had  a  bottom  or  floor  of  light  wood,  and  the  passage  between 
the  net-covered  and  the  board-covered  portions  could  be  closed  by 
a  sliding  door.  For  the  purpose  of  feeding,  etc.,  there  was  also  a 
hinged  door  8  inches  wide  at  the  opposite  end  from  the  brooding 
apartment.  By  raising  this  up  food  could  be  introduced  in  saucers 
or  other  vessels. 

This  simple  coop  could  be  easily  moved  to  any  part  of  the 
grounds.  If  emi)ty  it  was  simply  i)icked  up  and  carried  off.  If 
there  were  broods  in  it  they  were  first  driven  into  that  part  which 
had  both  top  and  bottom  and  closed  in  by  means  of  the  sliding 
doors.  The  entire  coop,  hens,  broods  and  all,  might  then  be  car- 
ried to  any  place.  Thus  we  st  t  them  down  on  the  grass  and  they 
could  pick  to  their  heart's  content.  When  they  had  soiled  this 
spot  we  moved  them  to  another,  and  towards  evening  we  washed 
the  grass  thoroughly  with  water,  for  which  purpose  I  had  a  simi)le 
watering  cart  made.  It  consisted  merely  of  a  barrel  mounted  on 
wheels  and  furnished  with  a  short  piece  of  hose. 

I  was  surprised  at  the  ease  with  which  we  cared  for  broods  and 
raised  them  with  the  aid  of  these  coops.  My  man  said  that  it  was 
as  easy  to  take  care  of  twelve  broods  in  these  coops  as  to  care  for 
one  in  the  ordinary  way. 

We  kept  food  constantly  before  them,  but  varied  it  at  least  four 
times  a  day,  so  that  they  did  not  become  chsgusted  with  its  con- 
stant presence.  As  they  could  not  get  out  to  pick  up  worms  and 
insects,  we  took  good  care  to  see  that  they  had  plenty  of  meat  and 
cruslied  bones.  For  drink  they  had  chiefly  buttermilk.  Our  cow 
was  in  full  flow  of  milk  and  we  churned  twice  a  week.  We  also 
bought  all  the  buttermilk  that  one  of  our  neighbors  could  spare, 
and  I  never  saw  anything  make  chickens  grow  like  this  feed.  In 
the  morning  they  had  bran  mixed  to  a  stiff  dough  with  buttermilk; 
at  10  A.  M.  they  had  chopped  meat — waste  scraps  from  the  butcher; 
at  2  P.M.  they  had  ordinary  "feed,"  and  corn  meal  made  into  a 
dough  with  water;    at  6  p.m.  they  had  cracked  corn.     Buttermilk 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  8-^ 

tliey  had  before  them  all  the  time.  I  never  saw  chickens  thrive 
better  than  ours  did  under  this  treatment. 

For  feeding  I  bought  a  lot  of  chipped  saucers  at  the  crockery 
store  for  a  cent  apiece.  These  chipped  pieces  are  unsaleable,  and 
quantities  are  thrown  away  by  every  large  importing  house.  By 
ofiering  to  take  a//  they  had  for  a  month  I  got  them  at  a  vei\- 
cheap  rate. 

I  made  but  two  of  these  coops  before  trying  them,  and  by  tlie 
time  I  had  fairly  tested  the  system  the  other  broods  were  so  far  ad- 
vanced that  they  did  not  need  them.  I  kept  them  in  the  common 
tent  coops  and  similar  contrivances,  fed  them  well,  and  they  throve 
apace.  My  motto  was  that  every  chicken  I  could  raise  brought 
me  nearer  to  the  fulfilment  of  my  ambition — the  possession  of  i,ooo 
laying  hens.  The  twenty-eight  broods  averaged  nine  chickens 
each  when  they  were  one  week  old.  I  divided  them  into  broods 
of  about  fourteen  each,  and  the  ease  with  which  this  could  be  done 
in  my  new  coops,  showed  me  that  the  advantages  more  than  bal- 
anced the  cost. 


84  COMMON    SENSE 


|)reparing  for  a  Start. 

^LL  this  preliminary  work  liad  merely  been  for  the  purpose 
of  educating  myself  in  the  best  mode  of  managing  and 


handling  chickens  in  flocks  which  might  be  multiplied  to 
any  extent.  I  was  perfectly  satisfied  with  my  house,  hatching 
nests  and  brooding  coops;  it  only  remained  to  arrange  the  ])laces 
for  the  houses,  put  them  u[),  procure  the  hens  and  go  to  work. 

First  of  all,  then,  about  the  location  of  the  houses.  If  I  had 
studied  neatness  and  order,  I  would  probably  have  i)laced  them 
in  a  symmetrical  row,  so  that  they  might  look  as  if  some  [person  of 
"  refined  taste  "  had  had  the  ordering  of  them,  and  many  a  scolding 
I  got  from  my  wife  for  the  hap-hazard  way  in  which  I  scattered 
them  over  the  ground.  But  to  have  arranged  them  in  a  row 
would  have  rendered  im})ossible  one  of  the  ma'n  objects  I  wished 
to  attain,  viz.,  the  possession  by  the  fowls  of  a  sense  of  ownership 
of  a  distinct  home.  By  placing  a  house  in  a.  corner  by  itself,  put- 
ting a  fence  around  it  and  confining  its  quota  of  fowls  to  this  yard 
for  a  few  weeks,  I  felt  that  I  could  easily  "domicile"  each  flock 
by  itself  After  this,  so  great  was  my  faith  in  the  desire  of  the 
fowls  to  keej)  to  one  roosting  place,  and  in  their  power  to  find 
their  way  back  to  it,  no  matter  how  far  they  might  stray,  that  I 
had  no  hesitation  in  allowing  them  their  freedom  over  the  entire 
place.  Of  course  it  was  necessary  to  i)revent  their  tresi)assing  on 
the  property  of  others,  and  in  order  to  insure  this,  I  proposed  to 
fence  in  those  portions  of  the  grounds  that  were  not  naturally  pro- 
tected. Thus,  on  the  north  the  ground  was  left  o])en,  because  there 
was  nothing  but  barren  rocks  above  me  on  that  side.  On  the  east 
there  was  a  piece  of  woods  in  which  they  could  do  no  possible 
damage,  but  rather  good  by  destroying  insects.  -The  owner  was 
an  absentee,  and  the  land  lay  in  commons,  so  I  had  no  hesitation 
about  letting  the  hens  go  there  occasionally,  as  it  was  impossible 
for  them  to  do  any  actual  damage, 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  85 

But  on  the  south  side  I  liad  my  very  agreeable  neiglibor,  witli 
whom  Brown  liad  had  so  many  quarrels.  As  I  have  aheady  stated, 
his  land  along  my  line  was  unimproved  woods,  left  just  as  it  came 
from  the  hand  of  Mother  Nature,  and  it  would  have  been  impos- 
sible for  the  hens  to  do  any  harm  there.  Knowing  my  man,  however, 
I  erected  a  fence  along  the  whole  of  the  division  line  and  a  little  be- 
yond, so  as  to  prevent  any  possibility  of  the  hens  "turning  the  cor- 
ner." As  I  was  anxious  to  have  this  fence  i)erfectly  cecure  against 
even  my  best  fliers,  I  used  wire  netting  three  feet  wide,  placetl  on 
a  tight  fence  2  feet  high  and  surmounted  by  a  single  wire  raised  10 
inches  above  the  wire  net.  This  excluded  everything.  The  little 
chickens  could  not  get  through  the  tight  fence,  and  the  wire  on 
toi)  very  effectually  i)revented  the  hens  from  flying  over.  They 
always  aimed  for  the  top  of  the  wire  netting,  and  striking  against  the 
single  wire,  which  was  almost  invisible,  they  fell  back  into  their 
own  grounds,  and  arose  wiser  if  not  hap[)ier  fowls. 

On  the  west  there  was  a  i)ublic  road,  and  I  have  never  known 
our  hens  to  cross  it,  especially  as  our  own  orchard  and  garden  lay 
between  their  houses  and  the  land  on  the  other  side.  While  the 
garden  crops  were  growing,  the  garden  was  fenced  in  with  portable 
fence,  which  was  removed  in  the  fall,  so  that  the  birds  might  pick 
up  the  waste.  In  the  orchard  they  were  always  supposed  to  do  a 
great  deal  more  good  than  harm. 

It  was  very  obvious  that  by  giving  each  bird  the  range  of  the 
entire  [)lace  it  had  a  freedom  and  a  chance  for  exercise  which  it  could 
not  have  in  a  small  yard.  A  thousand  fowls  on  four  acres,  each 
bird  having  the  entire  range  of  the  whole  place,  are  far  less 
crowded  than  250  birds  on  one  acre,  and  these  again  are  less 
crowded  than  ten  birds  would  be  on  i-25th  of  an  acre,  just  as  a 
man  confined  to  a  single  house  is  more  of  a  prisoner  than  any  o"ie 
of  a  million  of  men  confined  in  a  large  city,  about  whose  streets 
he  can  wander  at  his  pleasure,  his  "range"  being  bounded  by 
miles.  But  if  this  city  were  divided  up  into  squares — one  for  each  in- 
habitant— and  every  man  was  confined  to  his  own  square,  the  prison 
life  thus  forced  upon  the  i)eopIe  would  be  unendurable.  If  my  pres- 
ent stock  of  poultry  were  divided  off  into  small  lots,  each  lot  in  a  pen 


86  COMMON    SENSE 

by  itself,  I  am  satisfied  that  the  number  of  fowls  now  on  my  place 
would  completely  destroy  all  the  grass  and  "vegetables"  thereon  in  a 
very  short  time  if  they  were  ke[)t  constantly  on  it.  Not  "that  they 
would  eat  it,  or  even  scratch  it  up,  but  they  would  trample  it  down, 
and  their  droppings  would  so  defile  it  as  to  breed  disease  and  ruin. 
But  my  hens  spend  three-fourths  of  their  time  under  the  feeding 
sheds  and  in  the  dust  baths,  and  in  bright  dry  weather  tliey  impro- 
vise dust  baths  for  themselves  all  along  the  northern  and  eastern 
line,  where  the  land  is  light  and  the  aspect  sunny.  And  all  along  the 
line  the  bushes  are  so  planted,  or,  when  the  bushes  were  there 
already,  so  thinned  out  as  to  form  little  sunny  nooks  and  alcoves,  as 
it  weie,  where  they  are  completely  sheltered  from  wind  and  always 
find  a  dry  dusting  spot.  At  first,  I  found  the  tendency  very  strong, 
to  scratch  up  the  ground  and  make  a  great  hole  just  at  tne  trunk: 
of  the  young  trees,  thus  injuring  them  very  seriously.  This  I  soont 
stO[)ped  by  laying  a  few  good  sized  flat  stones  on  the  ground 
around  the  trees.  I  also  trmimed  u[)  the  evergreens  on  the'south 
and  east  sides,  so  that  the  sun  could  get  under  their  branches  and 
dry  the  ground  and  the  fallen  pine  needles.  This  was  no  doubt  a 
barbarous  proceeding  in  the  eyes  of  all  landscape  gardeners,  but 
the  hens  enjoyed  it. 

Tne  grass  land  is  heavy,  and  they  go  there  only  to  feed  on  the 
grass  and  insects,  but  their  eagerness  for  green  food  led  them  on  to 
the  grass  land  so  often,  that  I  found  it  necessary  to  provide  other 
food,  and  to  ke;^)  it  in  good  condition.  This  point  gave  me  a 
great  deal  of  trouble.  The  problem  was  to  keej)  a  plot  of  green 
food  of  some  kind  constantly  fresh  and  attractive  to  from  i,ioo  to 
3,000  fowls — allowing  them  to  "  pasture  "  it  at  will.  After  care- 
fully studying  the  different  plants  with  winch  I  had  had  experience^ 
I  could  think  of  but  two  that  would  answer  my  puri)ose — Rye  and 
Clover.  Clover  was  my  favorite,  but  it  was  difficult  to  keep  a 
supply  all  the  time;  rye  made  a  good  preparation  for  the  land  for 
clover,  and  at  the  same  time  furnished  green  food  during  early 
spring,  and  even  during  the  winter  when  the  weather  was  open.  The 
trouble  with  rye  was,  however,  that  it  did  not  seem  to  stand  the 
tramping,  etc.,  of  the  birds.     It  is  true,  tliat  I  could  fence  them 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  87 

out  at  times  and  feed  them  with  cabbage,  and  I  did  so  with  good 
results.  In  winter  I  use  clover  hay  cut  very  fine  in  a  hay  cutter, 
steamed  and  mixed  with  meal  of  coin  and  oats,  ground  together. 
I  have  been  told  ihat  I  cannot  grow  clover  many  years,  how- 
ever; that  in  time  my  land  will  get  "clover  sick" — whatever  that 
may  mean — and  the  plants  will  die  off.  Perha[)s  this  is  so,  but 
as  I  see  no  signs  of  such  a  calamity  at  present,  I  shall  not 
trouble  myself.  "  Sufficient  for  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof,"  and  when 
my  land  refuses  to  grow  clover,  I  will  try  something  else.  I  am  now 
experimenting  with  the  Southern  Cow  Pea  and  with  Prickly  Com- 
frey,  and  I  think  that  if  necessary  I  may  possibly  be  able  to  do  with- 
out clover,  but  as  yet  it  is  the  best  plant  I  have  tbund — requires  the 
least  lobor  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  valuable  green  food  ob- 
tained. 

I  therefore  set  out  to  provide  a  plot  of  very  rich  green  food 
for  my  hens,  and  I  laid  off  a  strip  200  feet  long  and  75  feet  wide 
along  the  edge  of  t-he  paddock,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded. 
This  I  proposed  to  i)low  up  in  the  fall,  manure  heavily  and  sow  to 
winter  rye.  The  following  spring  it  would  be  toj^dressed  and  sowed 
to  clover,  so  that  after  the  rye  was  gone,  its  place  would  be  sup- 
plied by  another  plant.  This  plot  of  land  I  intended  to  fence  in, 
and  I  also  intended  to  run  two  dividing  lines  of  movable  fence 
across  it,  so  that  I  could  feed  it  off  in  strips  of  about  48  feet  wide. 
Thus,  after  the  plants  had  got  a  fair  start,  the  fowls  would  be  ad- 
mitted to  a  strip  at  one  end,  48  feet  wide.  As  soon  as  this  strip 
showed  signs  of  giving  out,  the  fence  would  be  moved,  the  hens 
excluded  from  the  48  feet  on  which  they  had  been  feeding,  and 
another  48  feet  would  be  given  them.  I  chose  48  feet  because 
this  was  the  length  of  three  fence  panels  each  16  feet  long. 

I  found  that  it  took  three  weeks  for  the  hens  to  clear  off  such  a 
])lot,  and  that  by  the  time  the  rest  of  the  plot  had  been  gone  over, 
the  grass  and  clover  had  become  taller  than  was  necessary.  We 
sometimes  had  to  mow  it  and  give  it  to  the  cattle.  When- 
ever a  good  rain  came  shortly  after  the  fowls  were  shut  off  a  i)lot, 
the   growth  was   very  ra])id,  and   we  took  the   hint ;  and  if  a  dry 


88  COMMON    SENSE 

time  ensued,  we  sprinkled  it  heavily  with  water,  which  was  by  no 
means  a  laborious  operation. 

I  now  arranged  the  location  of  the  houses;  one  was  already  up, 
and  I  made  arrangements  for  putting  up  seven  more  immediately, 
so  that  I  might  procure  my  fowls.  In  arranging  the  location  of 
the  houses,  however,  I  found  that  it  was  difficult  to  supply  them 
with  water,  and  experience  had  taught  me  that  good  water  is  one  of 
the  most  important  things  in  the  care  of  all  kinds  of  live  stock.  The 
only  water  on  the  place  was  the  well,  and  the  spring  from  which  a 
stream  flowed  directly  into  "  Nabal's"  grounds.  I  worried  a  good 
deal  over  this,  and  had  almost  determined  to  sink  another  well  and 
procure  a  wind-mill,  when,  by  a  singular  episode,  I  was  relieved 
from  all  trouble  on  this  score. 


IN   THE   POULTRY   YARD.  89 


EANWHILE  the  season  was  gliding  past,  and  the  first 
days  of  August  were  fully  u[)on  us.  Everything  looked 
well,  the  crops  were  good,  the  animals  in  good  health, 
and  we  were  all  enjoying  country  life,  or  would  have  done  so,  had 
it  not  been  that  my  wife's  health  failed,  and  she  showed  strong 
symptoms  of  a  malarial  attack.  At  this  I  was  rather  sur[)rised,  for 
the  atmosphere  was  so  clear,  the  water  so  pure,  and  everytliing  ap- 
parently so  conducive  to  health,  that  when  our  family  physician 
told  me  that  it  was  a  veritable  attack  of  marsh  fever,  my  heart  sank 
withm  me,  and  I  said  to  myself,  "  Is  it  possible  that  no  region  is 
free  from  that  scourge  of  our  country  ?  "  The  hired  girl,  too,  showed 
symptoms  of  an  attack  ;  she  was  a  strong,  fresh-looking  girl  when 
she  came  to  us,  but  she  had  fallen  away  wonderfully  both  in  health 
and  looks,  and  now  showed  constant  signs  of  weariness,  against 
which  she  bravely  fought  in  vain.  My  own  health  continued  unaf- 
fected, but  then  I  believed  myself  to  be  ague-proof. 

I  was  sorely  puzzled  over  this  new  development.  The  land  all 
round  us  was  pure  and  wholesome,  and  yet  I  was  convinced  thnt 
some  unseen  marsh  must  be  the  source  of  our  illness.  The  Browns 
had  never  been  troubled  in  this  way,  but  then  the  ])resent  season 
had  been  unusually  hot  and  dry,  so  that  ])onds  which  in  other 
years  had  been  filled  with  clear,  wholesome  water,  were  now  stag- 
nant and  putrid.  But  none  of  these  ponds  lay  near  us,  and  so  the 
problem  remained  unsolved. 

One  day,  however,  when  passing  along  the  lower  i)art  of  my 
grounds,  I  heard  some  ducks  quacking  and  making  that  peculiar 
noise  which  ducks  do  when  they  stick  their  bills  m  mud.  Like  a 
flash  it  struck  me  that  here  was  the  cause  of  all  our  troubles,  and 
in  an  instant  I  \/as  on  the  other  side  of  the  f':^nce  on  an  exploring 
expedition.     I  saw  enough  to  con  iiice  me  that  there  would  be  no 


90  COMMON    SENSE 

health  at  Ferniebield  until  that  little  marsh  of  a  quarter  of  an  acre 
or  so  had  been  drained,  and  I  also  saw  coming  towards  me  with 
hurried  step  the  irate  proprietor. 

"  What  do  you  want  here  ?  "  he  asked  in  his  loudest  and  most 
churlish  tones.     "  Don't  you  know  you  are  trespassing  ?  " 

"  I  want  to  see  you,"  I  replied  very  quietly.  "  I  see  that  the  hot 
weather  has  reduced  this  ])ond  to  a  marsh,  and  it  has  given  chiHs 
and  fever  to  my  wife  and  servant,  and  endangers  the  health  of  my 
children,  and  I  have  come  to  ask  you  to  drain  it." 

"  Get  off  my  premises.  I  want  none  of  your  sneaking  here.  I 
dont  propose  to  drain  my  ponds  for  you  or  any  man." 

"  Pardon  me,"  said  I,  "I  will  go  if  you  wish  me  to  do  so,  but  if 
I  go  away  under  i)resent  conditions  I  may  return  in  a  way  that 
you  will  not  like.  If  you  object  to  drain  the  marsh,  for  it  is  not  a 
pond,  yourself,  will  you  allow  me  to  do  it  at  my  own  expense  ?  " 

The  answer  was  too  rough  and  savage  to  rei)eat,  and  I  left  him, 
but  not  until  I  had  used  my  eyes  to  good  advantage. 

Now,  the  origin  of  this  pond  and  marsh,  as  I  afterwards  learned, 
was  as  follows:  The  land  which  was  now  the  source  of  malaria 
had  in  former  years  been  quite  dry,  and  was  underlaid  with  a  deep 
bed  of  clay.  But  on  the  grounds  of  Ferniebield,  gushing  from  the 
bosom  of  the  mountain,  there  was  tlie  beautiful  spring  which  I  hav^ 
already  mentioned,  and  which  yielded  as  much  water  as  would  fill 
a  two-inch  i)ipe.  The  spring  was  almost  unvarying  in  its  flow. 
Wells  might  go  dry  and  streams  shrink,  but  this  little  sjjring  always 
seemed  to  be  full.  Not  many  years  back,  however,  it  had  flowed 
across  Ferniebield  in  a  diagonal  direction,  and  the  old  water-course 
was  still  visible  throughout  its  entire  length.  But  a  violent  "  thun- 
der spate"  had  sent  a  torrent  down  the  hillside — a  flood  the  like 
of  which  no  inhabitant  could  remember — and  this  flood  had  passed 
over  the  spring,  and  opened  for  it  and  for  itself  a  new  and  wider 
channel,  through  which  the  waters  of  the  rivulet  had  ever  after 
flowed.  Formerly  they  had  flowed /^i"/  "  Nabal's"  ]:)roperty  ;  now 
they  flowed  directly  into  it,  and  he  had  taken  advantage  of  this 
fact  and  constructed  costly  ponds  and  fountains,  which  were  sup- 
plied by  this  new  accession  to  his   property.     Now,  if  he  had  been 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  9I 

a  wise  man,  knowing  that  the  spring  arose  on  my  land,  lie  would 
have  met  me  more  than  lialf  way,  but  being  a  cluirl  he  was  likewise 
a  fool. 

1  had  three  ])lans  0[)en  to  me  Avhereby  tlie  nuisance  could  be 
abated,  i.  I  could  apply  to  the  Board  of  Health;  they  would 
very  quickly  rectify  matters  if  they  did  their  duty.  2,  I  could 
commence  a  civil  suit  for  damages,  and  procure  an  order  from  the 
court  to  abate  the  nuisance.  3.  I  could  abate  it  myself  at  once  by 
turning  off  the  water.  I  chose  the  latter  course,  partly  because  it 
was  the  speediest.  A  good  S[)ade  in  the  hands  of  a  stalwart 
man  generally  goes  straight  to  the  point,  and  knows  nothing  of 
the  "law's  delays."  First  of  all,  however,  I  consulted  a  lawyer  of 
great  experience  and  sound  knowledge  in  regard  to  my  rights  in 
the  case.  I  was  informed  that  I  had  a  perfect  right  to  restore  the 
water  to  its  original  course,  and,  moreover,  that  inasmuch  as  it  arose 
wholly  on  my  land,  I  had  a  right  to  do  w^hat  I  chose  with  it. 

I  at  once  employed  three  good  stout  laborers,  and  we  went  to 
work  and  cleared  out  the  old  channel  most  effectually.  It  had 
been  entirely  filled  in  in  some  places ;  these  we  dug  out  and  re- 
opened. Amongst  the  property  which  Brown  left  with  me,  but 
which  I  did  not  purchase,  merely  held  awaiting  his  order,  was  one 
of  Gurley's  Architectural  Levels.  This  admirable  little  instrument 
enabled  me  to  make  sure  of  my  course,  and  I  found  that  when  the 
water  passed  off  my  land  the  bed  of  the  stream  would  be  so  low 
that  there  would  be  no  possibility  of  bringing  it  back  to  Nabal's 
property  exce[)t  by  means  of  a  force  pum)).  So  we  worked  away, 
and  in  forty-eight  hours  I  had  the  old  channel  cleaned  out,  and  the 
present  one  very  effectually  filled  up.  As  the  sparkling  stream 
■dashed  over  the  pebbles  and  rushed  into  its  old  bed  I  could  not 
help  thinking  of  my  little  friend  Nettie  and  her  murdered  i)ets.  I 
knew  that  thousands  of  dollars  had  been  spent  on  the  ponds  and 
fountains  of  our  unneighborly  neighbor,  and  that  these  were  now 
all  useless.  The  fountains  were  now  nothing  but  dead  lumps  of 
iron  and  dead  blocks  of  stone,  and  the  i)ond,  instead  of  being 
'"a  thing  of  beauty,"  would  be  a  noisome,  stagnant  pool,  sickening 
-and  disgusting  its  owner,  until  in  self-defence  he  would  be  obliged 


^2  COMMON    SENSE 

to  drain  it.  Truly,  Nettie  was  well  avenged,  and  I  did  not  feel 
sorry. 

But  I  knew  that  for  a  week  or  two,  things  would  get  worse  in- 
stead of  better,  so  I  sent  my  wife  nnd  children  off  to  a  disiant  rela- 
tive, and  gave  the  girl  a  vacation,  telling  her  to  slay  awiiy  until  I 
sent  for  her. 

I  It  was  not  long  before  our  friend  missed  the  water,  and  rushed 
up  to  my  door  in  a  perfect  rage.  He  wanted  to  know  how  I  had 
dared  lo  change  the  natural  course  of  a  running  stream,  and  tlueat- 
eiied  all  sorts  of  vengeance.  I  quietly  ordered  Inm  off  the  premises, 
telling  him  that  the  spring  was  mine,  and  I  could  do  with  it  what 
I  pleased.  He  refused  to  go,  telling  me  that  1  could  not  put  him 
off.  Of  course  he  meant  physically,  which  was  quite  true,  but 
there  Avere  others  on  the  premises  that  could.  It  was  to  me  a 
matter  of  no  consequence  how  long  he  staid ;  he  could  not  undo 
what  I  had  done,  and  I  felt  satisfied.  So  I  simply  shut  the  door 
in  his  face  and  walked  into  the  house.  I  knew  that  if  he  did  any 
damage  he  could  be  made  to  pay  for  it. 

After  a  few  minutes  he  walked  away,  and  next  day  I  received  a 
letter  from  his  lawyer,  notifying  me  that  if  I  did  not  restore  the 
stream  to  what  he  called  its  proper  channel,  he  was  instructed  to 
begin  suit  at  once.  As  his  adviser  had  the  reputation  of  being  a 
very  able  lawyer  and  a  perfect  gentleman,  I  thought  it  best  to  call 
on  him  and  explain.  He  was  evidently  a  little  suri)rised  when  I  gave 
him  the  facts  in  the  case,  though,  with  a  lawyer's  caution  and  shrewd- 
ness, he  would  not  acknowledge  th.at  his  client  had  made  a  mistake. 
Next  day  I  received  another  letter,  asking  me  to  call  if  convenient. 
I  made  it. convenient.  The  lawyer  explained  to  me  the  great  ex- 
pense to  Avhich  his  client  had  gone  to  fit  up  his  place,  the  beauty 
of  which  was  greatly  marred  by  my  action.  He  stated  that  his 
client  had  directed  him  to  institute  a  suit  for  damages,  but  wish-ing 
to  avoid  trouble  he  wanted  to  know  if  I  would  not  restore  the  water 
to  its  former  channel,  provided  guarantees  were  given  that  no  nuis- 
ance should  be  allowed.  I  positively  refused.  I  told  him  that  I 
wanted  the  water  for  my  own  use,  and  that  I  would  not  trust  his 
client  under  any  circumstances.     In  due  time  I  was  served  with 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  93 

the  papers  in  the  suit,  and  also  a  notice  to  show  cause  why  I 
should  not  be  "enjoined  "  from  diverting  the  stream,  as  tliey  put 
it,  but  I  noticed  that  the  attorney  in  the  case  was  not  tlie  one 
with  whom  I  had  had  an  interview.  He  liad  evidently  advised  his 
client  not  to  enter  the  suit.  It  cost  me  a  small  retainer  to  my 
la\v}er,  who  put  in  an  ap[)earance  for  me,  but  the  case  was  aban- 
doned and  I  never  heard  any  more  of  it. 

One  most  gratifying  circumstance  through  all  this  fight  was  the 
sympathy  and  go^>d  feeling  extended  towards  me  by  all  the  neigh- 
bors. These  rude  dwellers  on  the  hillsides  had  little  sympathy 
with  any  man  that  "  i)ut  on  airs,"  and  when  it  went  so  far  as  to 
make  his  neighbors  sick,  they  were  "down"  on  him,  as  they  ex- 
pressed it.  This  litUe  episode  brought  me  into  closer  connection 
with  the  i)eoi)le  around  me  than  anything  else  could  have  done. 

'J'he  stream  now  flows  througli  my  neighbor's  ponds  and  foun- 
tains, but  "  Nabal"  is  not  my  neighbor.  "  Nabal "  was  so  deeply 
chagrined  over  his  defeat,  that  he  took  matters  greatly  to  heart. 
He  who  had  lorded  it  so  over  all  the  hillside  was  now  beaten. 
But  worse  than  that;  securities  which  he  considered  as  sound 
as  United  States  notes  went  from  above  par  down  to  the  tens. 
He  sold  out,  and  the  loss  so  curtailed  his  income  that  he  could 
not  maintain  his  country-seat.  He  disposed  of  the  property 
at  a  great  sacrifice,  and  another  now  occu[)ies  his  place.  That 
other  is  a  "  Nabal  "  only  in  one  particular;  he  has  a  most  excellent 
wife. 

When  I  gave  Nettie  an  account  of  all  this  she  was  greaUy 
pleased,  although  she  felt  very  sorry  for  "  i\bigail." 

We  divide  the  water  between  us ;  there  is  enough  for  both  when 
properly  managed.  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  a  never-failing 
stream  of  clear,  j^ure  water  flows  ])ast  my  coops  and  through  my 
yards,  and  this  I  regard  as  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  many 
items  which  go  to  form  the  elements  of  my  success. 


94  COMMON    SENSE 


^arbs  anh  irences. 

K'^Ji*B  Y  first  thought  was  that  fences,  except  for  the  breeding 
lK^  I  pens,  would  be  an  unnecessary  expense,  seeing  that  the 
"^^"1  birds  were  to  be  allowed  the  range  of  the  enUre  grounds 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  season.  I  soon  found,  however, 
that  I  could  not  dispense  with  a  well-fenced  yard  around  each 
house,  as  it  would  be  necessary  at  times  to  confine  the  birds  to 
their  own  domicile  for  various  purposes.  The  most  important  of 
these  was  the  training  of  the  hens,  so  that  each  might  know  its 
own  roosting  place.  I  had  found,  in  former  years,  that  when  a  few 
hens  and  a  cock  were  confined  for  some  weeks  in  a  breeding  pen, 
and  became  accustomed  to  roost  in  there,  it  was  almost  impossible  to 
change  them,  except  by  a  repetition  of  the  same  process.  On  one 
occasion  we  had  about  twenty  hens  whose  roosting  place  we  wished 
to  chang'\  For  several  weeks  we  carried  them  nightly  from  the 
old  to  the  new  house,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  fully  two-thirds 
of  them  returned  to  the  old  place.  I  then  shut  them  up,  day  and 
night,  in  their  new  quarters,  for  about  three  weeks,  and  we  had  no 
more  trouble.  Now,  every  season  we  would  have  500  young  pul- 
lets to  accustom  to  a  new  roosting  place.  They  would  be  divided 
into  lots,  each  lot  would  be  placed  in  its  own  house  and  yard,  and 
fed  there  and  compelled  to  roost  there,  and  I  knew  that  they  would 
almost  all  come  back  after  they  were  given  their  liberty.  In  this 
way,  and  this  only,  could  I  obtain  the  benefits  of  the  system  which 
I  had  adopted. 

But,  in  addition  to  this,  there  were  various  other  occasions  on 
which  a  well- fenced  yard  would  be  of  great  advantage.  Thus, 
every  fall  the  young  cockerels  would  have  to  be  separated  and 
placed  by  themselves,  and  various  other  necessities  would  arise. 
Movable  fencing  was  therefore  a  necessity,  or  at  least  a  great  con- 
venience. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD. 


95 


The  permanent  fence  round  the  yard  already  on  the  place  was 
made  of  what  are  called  "  shinglmg  latlis,"  the  pickets  being  9  feet 
long  (an  18  foot  lath  cut  in  two).  These  laths  are  i  inch  by  i^^, 
and  may  be  obtained  of  certain  lengths — 12,  14,  16,  18  feet,  etc. 

Of  portable  fencing  there  were  various  kinds  described  in  the 
books,  but  the  choice  lay  between  the  simple  lath  fence  I  had  used 
years  ago  and  a  fence  of  wire  netting.  The  great  objection  to  tlie 
latter,  however,  was  its  cost.  It  is  very  neat,  almost  invisible,  and 
for  small  runs  answers  admirably.  But  it  costs  i^o,  cents  i)er 
square  foot,  which  on  a  running  foot  7  feet  high,  as  is  necessary  for 
most  of  the  non-sitters,  amounts  to  10^  cents  per  running  foot. 
The  16-foot  panels  which  I  used  cost  about  half  that  sum  |!er  foot, 
or  less  than  a  dollar  each,  and  the  labor  of  i)utting  uj)  the  lath 
fence  is  greatly  less  than  that  required  for  the  wire  netting.  I  had 
two  kinds  of  lath  panels ;  one  for  fences  where  there  were  birds  only 
on  one  side,  and  the  other  for  division  fences  where  birds  were  on 
both  sides. 

The  engraving.  Fig  7,  shows  the  style  and  construction  of  an 
ordinary  panel.  There  were  three  horizontal  rails,  consisting  of 
shingle  laths,  each  sixteen  feet  long.  These  laths  being  i  X  i^^ 
inches,  were  })laced  with  their  edge  towards  the  upright  plastering 
laths.  This  gave  a  greater  depth  of  wood  for  the  lath  nails  to  sink 
into,  and  ako  greater  strenoth  against  the  bending  of  the  fence  side- 
Avays  by  wind  or  the  jMessure  of  birds  flying  or  running  against  them. 
The  wind,  however,  does  not  seem  to  take  much  hold  of  such  a 
fence,  although  they  act  as  valuable  shelters.  The  two  lower  rails 
were  connected  by  a  diagonal  brace  which  was  firmly  nailed  to 
to  each  rail  at  the  end.  The  diagonal  was  simply  an  18  foot 
shingling  lath,  cut  to  the  right  length  and  the  proper  shape  at  the 
ends. 

The  end  slats  were  also  made  of  shinglmg  lath — a  16  foot  lath 
cut  in  two.  They  were  laid  flat  against  the  horizontal  rails,  and 
nailed  firmly  with  wrought  nails,  which  were  clinched.  As  the 
length  of  an  ordinary  lath  is  4  feet,  and  as  the  ends  of  the  laths  lapped 
])ast  each  other  on  the  middle  bar  only  a  very  little,  the  fence  lacked 
only  an  inch  or  so  of  being  8  feet  high.     The  upper  laths  were 


96 


COMMON    SENSE 


A 


AAAAAAAAAAAAA 

■  ...-......---.        ;? 

'    ■     "     ■  -  ■  ™  "-"..■-".."«"-■.■  -  TTZZ, — ? 

,  -r  -  L  L   I  :.   -,  ;..  -  .,.  ..  ^, 

7.— POBTABLB    lATH   FENCE. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD  97 

pointed,  so  as  to  prevent  any  bird  that  might  fly  on  to  them  from 
resting  there.  None  of  our  birds,  however,  have  ever  got  over 
these  fences,  as  we  are  in  the  habit  of  trimming  the  quills  of  the 
wings  of  our  Leghorns  and  Hamburghs. 

When  my  man  made  the  first  few  panels,  he  pointed  the  lowei- 
laths  also,  and  placed  their  tops  several  inches  above  the  middle 
rail.  This  formed  one  of  the  best  traps  for  chickens  that  I  ever 
saw.  They  would  jump  up,  their  heads  would  slip  into  the  wedge- 
shaped  opening  between  the  laths,  and  there  they  would  hang  by 
the  neck.  I  lost  several  fine  hens  in  this  way,  until  I  had  the  tops 
of  the  lower  laths  sawed  oft  square. 

At  first  we  had  some  trouble,  owing  to  the  tendency  of  some  of 
the  lath  to  split.  We  soon  remedied  this  difficulty,  however,  by 
wetting  the  lath.     When  thoroughly  wet  they  are  not  easily  spht. 

'J'he  lath  were  pointed  by  means  of  a  draw-knife  and  a  carpen- 
ter's wooden  vise.  A  small  circular  saw  would  no  doubt  have  done 
the  work  better. 

After  the  panels  were  completed,  they  were  placed  against  some 
straight  fence  or  wall  to  dry,  which  they  did  very  rapidly.  They 
were  then  painted  with  crude  petroleum,  and  panels  so  treated  have 
been  in  use  five  years  without  showing  any  sign  of  deterioration. 

Such  j)anels  are  very  strong.  I  have  heard  complaints  of  lath 
fences  being  weak  and  liable  to  be  broken  down  by  the  birds,  in 
which  case,  of  course,  mischief  would  result.  In  my  own  yards 
no  breakage  has  ever  occurred.  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  if  a  cow 
or  a  horse  were  to  attempt  to  pass  this  fence  they  could  succeed, 
but  that  any  bird  short  of  an  ostrich  could  break  it  down  I  do  not 
believe.  I  have  seen  heavy  birds — birds  weighing  twelve  pounds — 
throw  themselves  against  this  fence  in  their  fights  without  i)ro(hic- 
ing  any  bad  effect  on  it,  and  even  good-sized  dogs  have  rushed 
against  these  fences  without  injuring  them.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  lower  rail  is  about  a  foot  from  the  bottom,  so  that  the  shock 
given  by  dogs  and  birds  comes  at  the  strongest  part  of  the  fence, 
and  the  diagonal  brace  is  also  a  great  help  against  any  local  blows. 
I  have  therefore  come  to  the  conclusion  that  lath  fences  that  break 
down   easily   must  eitlicr   be   Ixidly   constructed  or  made  of  very 


98  COMMON    SENSE 

poor   materials.     A  great   i)oint  is   to  place  the  rails  flat,  so  that  a 
good  size  nail  may  be  driven  wholly  into  solid  wood. 

With  a  supply  of  panels  like  this,  and  a  pro[)er  number  of  stakes 
or  posts,  a  yard  can  be  put  together  in  a  very  short  time.  The 
fiist  thing,  for  those  who  are  not  used  to  the  work,  is  to  roughly 
lay  out  the  yard,  marking  the  corners  with  small  stakes  or  mark- 
ers. If  there  is  to  be  a  gate,  the  place  where  it  should  come  ought 
to  be  marked,  and  the  house  ought  to  be  in  position  before  the 
yard  is  laid  out.  •  My  houses  had  strong  "  screw  eyes  "  at  the  cor- 
ners where  the  fence  joined  them,  and  to  these  the  outside  picket 
of  the  first  panel  of  fence  was  tied  either  with  strong  cord  or  with 
wire.*  The  panel  was  then  held  in  position,  and  a  hole  made 
with  a  crowbar  just  at  the  place  where  the  post  should  be  set.  The 
post  or  stake  is  then  driven  into  the  ground  to  a  depth  depending 
upon  the  character  of  the  soil.  This  work  is  done  by  means  of  a 
wooden  mallet  or  maul  with  a  long  handle.  We  made  the  mallet 
ourselves  out  of  a  piece  of  a  tree,  using  an  old  hoe  handle  for  a 
handle,  With  such  a  mallet  a  man  or  stout  boy  can  drive  a  stake 
3  inches  in  diameter  into  the  ground  so  deeply  that  no  common 
animal  can  push  it  over.  I'he  untied  end  of  the  first  panel  is  then 
placed  against  one  side  of  this  post,  and  the  end  of  another  panel 
against  the  other  side,  nnd  both  are  tied  to  the  stake  either  with 
tarred  cord  or  soft  wire.  The  second  panel  is  then  placed  so  that 
it  and  the  first  panel  form  a  straight  piece  of  fencing,  and  the  point 
where  the  second  post  should  come  is  marked  with  a  crowbar  or 
'■hole  oi)ener,"  as  we  call  it.  This  hole  opener  is  of  peculiar 
sha[)e.  It  consists  of  a  long  bar  of  iron  or  steel,  with  a  pear-sha[)ed 
ball  at  the  lower  end,  as  shown  in  Figure  8.  Such  a  crowbar, 
ifl)omted  with  tempered  steel,  can  be  driven  two  feet  into  hard 
ground  with  great  rapidity  and  ease,  while  a  common  crowbar  would 
require  hard  and  protracted  labor.  The  heavy  point  is  first  driven 
in.  and  die  bar  rocked  a  litde  in  two  or  three  directions.  It  is 
then  raised  and  again  driven  into  the  hole  with  as  much  force  as 
possible,  and  again   rocke.i.     This  operation  is  repeated  until   the 

*Tlie  wire  that  comes  off  baled  liay  answers  very  well  for  this  purpose,  and 
may  be  had  for  almost  nothing  from  those  that  nse  this  kind  of  hay. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  99 

hole  is  deep  enoiigli,  and  it  is  surprising  how  rapidly  the  work  can 
be  done.  We  always  started  tlie  holes  in  this  way,  but  in  soft 
spots  it  is  best  to  drive  the  stakes  wholly  with  the  mallet. 

After  a  little  practice  it   becomes  unnecessary  to   mark  off  the 
boundaries  of  the  yards.     'Hie  e\e  becomes  a  good  enough 
guide  for  the  direction,  and  the  panels  being  all  i6  feet,  tlie 
size  can  be  told  at  a  glance. 

When  there  is  to  be  a  gate,  the  gate  is  treated  like  a 
panel,  except  that  the  tie  which  serves  for  the  gate  does  not 
tie  the  panel  next  it.  The  gates  were  made  just  like  short 
panels,  but  there  was  a  diagonal  brace  above  as  well  as  be- 
low. The  gates  were  quite  light,  easily  lifted  and  moved, 
so  that  no  hinges  were  used.  The  tie  was  made  of  several 
turns  of  wire,  instead  of  two,  as  used  for  the  panels,  and 
one  of  those  three-cent  wire  hooks  and  eyes,  of  good  size, 
was  used  for  a  fastening.  This  was  not  as  convenient  as  a 
proper  hinge,  but  it  anwered  every  pur])ose  for  the  breeding 
pens.  The  gates  for  the  large  stationary  yards  were,  how- 
ever, made  more  substantially.  The  gate  posts  were  nicely 
squared,  and  the  gates  had  a  special  picket  for  leceiving  the 
hinge.  This  picket  was  made  of  so-called  inch  boards 
(nearly  y-Sths  thick),  3  inches  wide,  and  carefully  selected  Fig.  8. 
for  soundness  and  strength.  Loose  butt  hinges  were  used, 
and  as  the  post  was  held  upright  by  the  panel  on  the  other  side 
there  was  no  sagging,  and  the  gate  always  worked  smoothly. 

There  was  another  form  of  panel  used  for  division  fences.  In 
division  fences,  that  is,  fences  between  two  yards,  it  is  necessary  to 
have  the  lowei-  part  close,  so  as  to  prevent  fighting.  This  was 
done  by  nailing  half  a  lath  between  every  one  of  the  lower  row  of 
laths.  These  laths  did  not  quite  fill  u})  the  S[)ace,  but  die  oi)enings 
were  so  narrow  that  11  "  iVjiliting  could  occur.  The  half  latlis  were 
firmly  nailed  to  liie  lower  rail,  and  a  line  of  selected  lath  was  run 
horizontally  about  2  inches  below  the  top  of  the  half  laths.  These 
horizontal  laths  were  nailed  to  the  half  laths,  and  also  to  the  others, 
with  small    wrought    nails  Uiat    clinched.     These    division    i)anels 


lOO  COMMON    SENSE 

were  surprisingly  strong.     We  doubt  if  any  animal,  short  of  a  horse 
or  a  cow,  could  have  broken  ihem. 

The  panels  were  easily  and  rapidly  made  by  using  proi)er  facili- 
ties. Four  posts  were  sunk  in  the  ground,  so  as  to  make  the  legs 
of  a  sort  of  bench  i6  feet  long,  8  feet  wide,  and  the  usual  height  of 
a  workbench.  Along  the  front  a  good  plank  i8  feet  long  was  laid. 
It  was  braced  in  the  middle  by  nailing  it  to  the  edge  of  another 
plank  14  feet  long.  Of  course  the  latter  plank  was  on  the  under 
side,  and,  as  it  presented  its  ividth  against  any  force  tending  to 
bend  the  upper  plank,  the  bench  was  pretty  stiff  Two  pieces  of 
l)lank,  each  8  feet  long,  were  laid  across  the  end  posts,  so  that  the 
l)ench  was  a  sort  of  skeleton  afifliir  closed  on  three  sides,  the  other 
side  being  0[)en,  and  the  middle  also  quite  free.  Six  feet  from  one 
end  of  the  bench  two  oUier  posts  of  the  same  height  were  set,  and 
across  the  top  was  laid  a  plank  8  feet  long.  This  was  intended  to 
support  the  panel  when  it  was  shoved  off  the  large  bench  when 
nailing  on  the  top  row  of  lath.  Having  the  material  all  handy  and 
l)repared,  the  three  rails  were  laid  down,  their  ends  resting  on  the 
end  planks  of  the  bench.  The  two  stout  end  pickets  were  then 
nailed  to  them,  the  proper  position  of  the  rails  being  shown  by  a 
rod,  i)roperly  marked.  All  the  panels  were,  therefore,  precisely  the 
same.  This  framework  of  the  panel  being  now  held  square,  the 
diagonal  brace  was  cut  to  fit  accurately,  and  then  firmly  nailed  in 
its  i)lace.  Then  the  first  lath  was  nailed  on,  a  thin  board,  6  inches 
long  and  i^  inches  wide,  and  having  a  block  nailed  to  its  upper 
surface  to  serve  as  a  handle,  being  laid  between  it  and  the 
first  i)icket  so  as  to  get  the  space  right.  The  rail  into  which  the 
nails  were  being  driven  rested  on  the  long  plank,  and  all  the  laths 
were  nailed  at  one  ^v(\  before  an  attempt  was  made  to  nail  the 
other.  Then  the  middle  rail  was  laid  on  the  plank  and  the  other 
ends  of  the  lath  nailed  to  it.  Then  the  diagonal  brace  was  laid  on 
this  plank  and  the  lath  nailed  half  way  up.  The  panel  was  then 
turned  round,  and  standing  between  the  top  and  the  middle  rail  the 
upper  half  of  the  diagonal  was  nailed. 

Everything  was  now  finished  except  the  nailing  of  the  lath  to 
the  upper  half    The  panel  was  strong  enough  to  resist  much  bend- 


IN   THE    POULTRY   YARD.  1 01 

ing  when  laid  flat  and  supported  in  the  middle,  but  to  avoid  any 
bending  I  had  put  up  the  support  previously  described.  The 
workman  now  stood  between  the  top  and  middle  rails  with  tlie  end 
of  the  panel  resting  on  the  end  plank  of  the  bench.  The  first  top 
lath  was  nailed  at  both  ends  and  the  panel  shoved  along.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  however,  the  plank  was  12  inches  wide,  so  that  three 
lath  could  be  nailed  before  moving  the  panel.  This  process  was 
carried  on  until  the  space  between  the  last  picket  and  the  lath  be- 
came too  small  to  admit  the  workman,  when  he  stepped  out  and 
nailed  the  last  half  dozen  lath  without  difficulty. 

I  have  been  astonished  to  see  how  quickly  an  expert  workman 
can  nail  up  a  panel.  I  had  one  workman  whose  labor  on  the 
panels  did  not  exceed  i8  cents  each,  and  yet  he  was  earning  fair 
wages. 

It  is  also  surprising  to  see  how  rapidly  those  who  are  accustomed 
to  this  kind  of  work  can  move  one  of  the  breeding  yards  and 
houses  to  another  spot.     The  process  is  as  follows : 

Catching  the  hens :  To  do  this  they  are  all  driven  into  tlie 
house,  gently  but  quickly,  through  the  ordinary  hole  that  admits 
them.  An  empty  crate  is  then  placed  with  its  open  door  against 
this  hole  and  the  hens  are  easily  driven  into  the  crate,  which  is 
closed  and  allowed  to  stand  where  it  is  until  wanted.  The  wires 
or  cords  fastening  the  panels  to  the  house  on  either  side  are  cut. 
It  does  not  pay  to  spend  time  untying  them.  A  sharp  knife  for  the 
cord,  or  a  pair  of  cutting  phers  (found  in  every  hardware  store)  for 
the  wire  does  the  business  instantly.  Two  men  then  pick  up  the 
house  by  the  handles  and  walk  off  with  it  to  the  new  location.  As 
the  house  has  no  bottom  or  floor  except  the  ground,  the  old  nests 
and  all  the  dirt  are  left  behind.  The  house  is  then  properly 
located,  and  to  those  who  have  done  the  job  before,  that  is  all  the 
marking  oft'  that  is  needed. 

The  panels  are  then  all  cut  loose  and  laid  across  two  poles,  each 
about  ten  feet  long  and  lying  on  the  ground  about  34  inches  apart. 
These  poles  serve  for  a  hand-barrow,  and  the  panels  must  be  laid 
so  as  to  balance.  As  soon  as  a  load  is  laid  on,  two  men  pick 
them  up,  using  the  ends  of  the   poles  for  handles,  and  carry  them 


102  COMMON    SENSE 

to  the  new  place.  When  there  are  four  men  at  work,  it  is  better  to 
place  the  poles  further  apait  (say  6  feet)  and  lay  on  twice  the  load. 
There  is  then  one  man  to  each  end  of  the  poles. 

The  posts  or  stakes  are  then  drawn  out  of  their  holes  by  means 
of  a  lever  and  chain.  A  lever,  12  to  15  feet  long,  is  used,  and  a 
small  chain  or  stout  rope  fastens  it  to  the  post.  Of  course  the  lever 
Vs  horizontal,  and  is  supported  at  the  short  end  by  a  block  of  wood, 
•so  as  to  prevent  it  from  sinking  into  the  earth.  A  lift  on  the  long 
end  brings  the  post  up  so  far  that  it  is  generally  quite  loose,  and 
can  be  drawn  out  by  hand. 

All  this  is  done  with  a  rapidity  that  would  astonish  those  who 
are  not  accustomed  to  such  work.  The  process  of  putting  the 
fence  up  again  has  been  already  described. 

My  first  undertaking,  therefore,  was  to  construct  a  sufficient 
number  of  fence  panels  to  enclose  yards  for  seven  houses  for  layers, 
and  ten  breeding  pens.  I  saw  that  this  could  not  be  done  in  time 
by  working  at  it  "  at  odd  spells,"  so  I  hired  a  carpenter  and  two 
assistants  and  set  them  at  work  on  the  houses  and  fences. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  lO 


Breebing  JJeno. 

HAVE  already  described  llic  simple  pen  in  which  I  placed 
the  Brown  Leghorn  cock  and  seven  hens.  It  answered 
its  purpose  admirably,  but  having  but  one  box  of  the 
kind  tliere  used,  I  could  not  make  any  more  like  it.  Nor,  indeed, 
do  I  think  I  would  have  done  so,  if  I  had  had  them,  as  I  felt  sure 
that  I  could  impiove  upon  it.  Again,  therefore,  I  ransacked 
the  poultry  books,  and  general  works  on  architecture.  I  even 
found  books  specially  devoted  to  this  branch  of  building  (it 
scarcely  deserves  the  name  of  architecture)  and  I  studied  them, 
but  after  all  I  found  nothing  that  seemed  to  meet  my  presents  wants 
so  well  as  the  small  movable  houses  I  had  used  a  quarter  of  centuiy 
before.  They  were  made  of  matched  boards,  and  entirely  without 
flooring.  They  were  4  feet  6  inches  long  by  3  feet  6  inches  wide. 
The  front  \vas  5  feet  6  inches  and  the  back  4  feet  high.  There 
was  a  door  20  inches  wide  and  4  feet  higli  at  one  end,  and  a  small 
window  consisting  of  a  single  pane  of  glass  8  X  12  at  the  other. 
The  latter  might  be  covered  during  cold  nights  with  a  shutter, 
whicli  was  attached  just  below  the  window  by  small  hinges,  so  that 
during  the  day  time  it  could  be  turned  down  and  at  night  it  could 
be  turned  up,  so  as  to  cover  the  window,  when  it  was  held  in  place 
by  a  small  button. 

There  was  a  hole  in  the  front,  through  which  the  birds  entered, 
and  this  hole  could  be  covered  by  a  board  placed  on  the  inside  and 
sliding  over  the  opening. 

There  were  two  roosts,  made  of  young  trees,  each  3  inches  in 
diameter  and  3  feet  6  inches  long.  They  were  placed  so  as  to 
divide  the  ground  space  equally.  This  gave  84  inches  of  roost — 
sufficient  for  ten  fowls  of  the  largest  size.  The  roosts  were  mov- 
able and  when  it  was  deemed  desirable  to  enter  the  house,  they 
could  be  lifted  out  without  trouble.     At  the  same  time  they  were 


104  COMMON    SENSE 

perfectly  firm,  being  held  in  V-shaped  spaces  between  cleats — the 
same  as  those  used  in  tlie  large  house. 

The  nests,  or  rather  nest  boxes,  were  a  part  of  the  house.  In 
the  figure  is  sliown  a  section  of  the  house,  where  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  nests  form  a  row  along  tlie  back,  being  covered  with  a 
slanting  board.  'J'he  nests  are  simply  a  little  fine  marsh  liay  laid 
on  the  ground.  The  hay  and  eggs  are  kept  in  place  by  a  4  inch 
board  which  runs  along  the  front  of  the  nests.  Each  nest  is  a 
compartment  by  itself,  divided  off  from  the  one  on  each  side  of  it 
by  a  board  which  reaches  up  to  the  under  surface  of  the  slanting 
board.  Indeed,  the  latter  rests  on  the  tops  of  tliese  division 
boards.  The  nests  are  accessible  from  the  outside,  so  that  the 
poultry  keeper  need  never  enter  the  house.  The  way  to  get  at 
them  is  to  let  down  the  board  which  runs  across  the  entire  back  of 
the  house,  and  is  hinged  to  tlie  stationary  board  below  it.  Both 
the  side  door  and  the  door  giving  admission  to  the  nests  are  pro- 
vided with  hasps,  so  that  they  may  be  locked  by  means  of  one  of 
those  cheap  cast  iron  padlocks  known  as  "jail  locks."  Such  a 
contrivance  is  proof  against  sneak  thieves.  A  burglar  would  break 
the  whole  house  up  in  half  a  minute,  so  there  is  no  use  in  putting 
on  strong  and  costly  locks. 

Along  the  front  is  a  row  of  pickets,  to  prevent  the  birds  from 
flying  over.  The  pickets  are  16  inches  long,  being  simply  laths  cut 
into  three  parts. 

On  each  corner  there  are  handles  consisting  of  pieces  of  boards 
shaved  into  such  a  shape  as  to  be  easily  grasped  by  the  hand. 
They  are  firmly  secured  to  the  front  and  back  by  means  of  wrought 
nails,  clinched.  Four  stout  boys  have  no  difficulty  in  |)icking  up 
one  of  these  houses  and  moving  it  wherever  it  is  wanted.  Indeed, 
two  men  can  do  it. 

The  inside  of  the  house — sides,  ends  and  roof — are  lined  with 
tarred  paper,  nailed  to  cleats  one  inch  thick,  which  are  fastened  to 
the  house  as  detailed  in  our  description  of  the  large  house.  This 
makes  the  house  very  warm,  and  the  matched  boards  make  it  per- 
fectly rain  proof.     To  protect  it  from  the  weather  it  was  coated 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD. 


105 


Fig.  9.— HOUSE    FOR    BREEDING   STOCK. 


lo6  COMMON    SENSE 

with  crude  petroleum  laid  on  like  paint.  Of  all  the  preservatives 
that  we  have  ever  tried,  this  is  the  cheapest  and  best.* 

Another  important  point — ventilation — was  not  forgotten.  In 
cold  winter  weatlier,  very  little  ventilation  is  needed,  and  I  depended 
largely  upon  the  cracks  round  the  door  and  other  openings  to 
supply  it.  But  cracks  and  openings  are  bad  things,  and  to  have 
left  a  crack  at  the  bottom,  and  made  a  hole  at  the  top,  would  have 
passed  such  a  current  of  cold  air  over  the  fowls  as  might  have 
produced  frozen  combs  and  wattles.  To  avoid  this,  three  holes— 2 
inches  in  diameter — were  made  along  the  front — that  is  at  the 
highest  part  of  the  house.  Under  these  holes  was  placed  a  thin 
board  shelf,  14  inches  wide,  and  during  cold  weather  the  space  be- 
tween the  shelf  and  the  roof  is  packed  with  straw.  This,  of  course, 
puts  a  complete  stop  to  all  currents,  but  every  chemist  knows  that 
through  such  porous  packmg  the  foul  air  will  pass  off  by  a  process 
of  "diffusion,"  and  pure  air  will  enter  from  the  outside  even 
against  a  considerable  current.  Moreover,  the  straw  acts  like  the 
"regenerator"  in  Ericsson's,  first  caloric  engine,  and  absorbs  the 
heat  from  the  outgoing  air  to  give  it  up  to  the  incoming. 

I  have  described  the  house,  as  we  finally  made  it.  Before  com- 
mitting myself  to  a  particular  pattern  I  made  one  myself,  and  hav- 
ing surrounded  it  with  a  yard  of  portable  fencing,  I  put  seven  hens 
and  a  cock  into  it  and  tried  it  for  a  couple  of  weeks.  I  found  a 
few  points  to  modify  in  my  first  model,  but  the  final  outcome  was 
as  I  have  described  and  was  very  satisfactory. 

*  Crude  petroleum  may  be  obtained  at  a  very  etieap  rate  by  the  barrel,  and  is 
easily  applied.  If  too  thick  and  sticky  it  may' be  thinned  with  benzine  or  g:aso- 
line.  When  usins;  it,  great  care  must  be  taken  not  to  allow  a  light  to  come 
near  it,  or  the  whole  house  would  be  in  a  blaze.  We  painted  our  houses  out- 
side and  in  before  we  lined  them  with  tarred  paper,  and  one  of  them  got  pretty 
badly  scorched,  by  a  workman,  who  struck  a  match  near  one  to  light  his  pipe. 
Tt  was  a  windy  day  and  he  stuck  his  head  in  to  get  shelter  for  the  match.  It  was 
the  only  time  any  one  struck  a  match  near  these  houses,  as  he  got  badly 
burned,"  the  petroleum  having  been  thinned  with  gasoline.  After  a  few  days 
the  volatile  matter  passes  off,  and  the  petroleum  sinks  into  the  wood,  rendering 
it  hard,  durable  and  very  difficult  to  set  on  Are,  Crude  petroleum  is  death  to  in- 
sects. It  will  be  a  long  time  before  houses  painted  with  this  material  will  be 
infested  with  lice. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  IO7 


iHakinig  a  <3tart. 


AVING  completed  my  plans  for  houses,  pens  and  fences, 
and  made  one  of  each,  so  as  to  test  its  working  and 
convenience,  I  set  to  work  to  construct  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  yards  to  hold  500  birds,  together  with  those,  old  and  young, 
already  on  the  place  and  coming  forward.  I  intended  to  send  all 
the  old  fowls  and  culls  to  market,  as  soon  as  it  would  be  advisable 
to  do  so,  and  after  some  inquiry  and  a  comparison  of  old  market 
reports,  I  believed  that  the  best  time  to  sell  would  be  the  S[iring. 
Thus,  I  found  that  during  the  preceding  fall  what  are  known  as 
"fowls"  sold  for  12^0  cents  per  lb,,  while  in  the  spring  they  had 
brought  20  cents.  On  a  hen  6  lbs.  weight,  this  allowed  45  cents  for 
her  keep  during  the  winter,  and  as  many  of  the  hens,  if  properly 
cared  for,  would  lay  during,  at  least,  part  of  the  time,  it  was  evi- 
dent that  spring  was  the  most  judicious  time  to  sell.  As  I  i)ro- 
posed  to  buy  about  500  hens,  and  as  I  had  about  60  on  hand  and 
expected  to  have  300  or  400  young  pullets  out  of  the  broods  now  on 
the  place,  I  calculated  that  I  would  need,  at  least,  eight  houses, 
and  about  ten  breeding  pens,  in  addition  to  those  now  on  hand. 
So  I  made  my  calculations,  ordered  the  lumber,  and  kept  the  car- 
penter and  his  assistant  at  work. 

I  was  anxious  to  take  advantage  of  the  market  at  once,  and  to 
procuie  my  hens  before  cold  weather  came,  so  that  I  might  not 
only  have  them  in  good  health  when  I  got  them,  but  be  able  to 
get  them  into  good  condition  to  withstand  the  winter.  I  also 
wished  to  quarantine  every  lot  that  I  i)urchased  in  market;  that  is 
to  say,  I  wanted  to  keej)  it  by  itself  for  a  few  days  before  letting  it 
run  witli  the  others.  While  the  breeding  i)ens  were  under  way, 
therefore,  I  interrupted  the  work  and  had  a  large  shed  put  up.  It 
was  40  feet  long  and  about  16  feet  wide,  and  was  constructed  in  a 
very  simple  manner.     Stout  posts   were  sunk  at  the  four  corners, 


loS  COMMON   SENSE 

and  lighter  posts  between  at  distances  of  8  feet.  The  back  row 
was  only  3  feet  high,  and  the  front  row  8  feet,  and  rails  of  scantling 
were  nailed  along  the  top  and  also  near  the  bottom  at  the  back  and 
ends.  To  this  scantling  rough  boards  were  nailed  vertically,  and 
narrow  strips  were  tacked  over  the  joints.  The  roof  consisted  of 
boards  18  feet  long,  with  the  joints  covered  in  the  same  way. 
These  boards  were  supported  in  tlie  middle  by  a  suitably  arranged 
beam,  so  as  to  bear  the  weight  of  any  ordinary  snowfall,  as  I  in- 
tended to  leave  this  shed  up  all  winter.  Eight  roosting  poles  ran 
from  end  to  end,  being  placed  as  near  the  back  as  i)ossible,  and  all 
on  the  same  level,  so  that  there  might  be  no  fighting  for  the  highest 
place.  About  half  an  acre  c(  grass  land  was  enclosed  around  it  by 
means  of  the  movable  fence.  When  a  lot  of  fowls  were  purchased, 
they  were  first  placed  in  one  of  the  breeding  yards,  or  in  two  yards 
if  the  number  was  large.  Jf  no  disease  showed  itself  in  a  week 
they  were  transferred  to  the  large  yard  around  the  shed,  and  kept 
there  until  the  houses  were  f^pished.  If  disease  had  shown  itself, 
I  was  prepared  to  "  stamp  "  it  out  by  well-known  methods — the 
slaughter  of  the  birds  and  the  disinfection  of  the  house  and  yards — 
but  fortunately  I  had  no  occasicn  to  resort  to  any  such  measures 

I  was  now  ready  to  go  into  market  and  buy  my  hens.  For 
several  days  I  visited  the  dealers'  stands  without  seeing  anything 
that  suited  me,  but  at  last  perseverance  was  rewarded,  and  I  found 
two  crates  containing  some  very  nice  common  hens — compact 
bodies,  bright  eyes,  red  combs,  and  with  feathers  hard  and  clean. 
There  were  twenty-two  birds  in  one  crate  and  seventeen  in  the 
other,  but  several  of  them  were  cocks.  I  tried  to  buy  the  hens 
only,  but  found  that  at  wholesale  prices  I  had  to  take  the  entire 
lot  or  none.  I  therefore  bought  them  all  and  sent  them  to  my 
yards.  They  weighed  159  lbs.,  or  a  litde  over  four  pounds  each. 
The  cocks  (of  which  there  were  thirteen)  were  separated  and 
placed  in  a  pen  by  themselves,  while  the  hens  of  each  crate  were 
kept  separate  and  placed  in  pens.  I  tried  to  sell  the  cocks  by  the 
crate,  but  found  that  the  loss  was  considerable.  Birds  which  cost 
me  fifteen  cents  per  pound  would  only  bring  twelve  cents  when  I 
tried  to  re-sell  them.     As   I   did   not  want  this  first  lot  anyway, 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD. 


109 


however,  I  sold  them  for  what  they  would  bring,  and  let  them  go. 
But  even  on  this  basis  I  found  that  it  paid  better  to  buy  the  entire 
crate  than  to  ask  the  dealer  to  let  me  pick. 

Next  day  I  found  a  crate  of  beautiful  White  Leghorns.  There 
were  seven  pullets  and  nine  cocks.  They  brought  no  more  than 
the  most  common  stock,  and  I  bouglit  them  all.  The  dealer  said 
that  he  had  no  doubt  that  if  he  had  marked  them  up,  and  offered 
them  as  breeding  stock,  he  could  have  secured  a  far  higher  i)rice 
for  them,  but  then  the  expense  and  trouble  of  keeping  them  in  the 
narrow  quarters  of  a  city  store  would  have  more  than  offset  the  in- 
creased price.  His  rule  was,  therefore,  to  sell  all  such  stock  at 
regular  market  prices  and  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  I  found 
out  afterwards  that  they  came  from  a  party  whose  strain  of  Leg- 
horns w^as  really  good.  The  birds  were  very  fine,  and  I  concluded 
that  the  cockerels  were  good  enough  for  my  breeding  pens.  I  also 
found  another  crate  of  large  birds  of  somewhat  mixed  blood,  but 
very  handsome,  and  ap[)arently  veiy  healthy.  In  this  crate,  strange 
to  say,  there  were  no  cocks,  so  that  I  regarded  the  purchase  as  a 
very  happy  one. 

On  talking  with  the  dealers,  I  found  that  the  crates  were  filled 
in  various  ways.  Sometimes  a  fiirmer  or  country  gentleman,  wish- 
ing to  lessen  his  stock,  would  fill  a  crate  with  fowls  and  send  theni 
in.  Most  generally  these  lots  were  the  culls  of  the  yard,  and  pre- 
sented a  sorry  api)earance,  but  occasionally,  where  the  owner  had 
fine  blood  in  his  stock,  the  crates  were  filled  with  pure  bred,  hand- 
some birds.  Crates  of  the  latter  kind  were  rare,  but  I  managed  to 
secure  two  such  crates  of  Dominiques,  one  of  Light  Brahmas,  and 
one  of  Brown  Leghorns,  besides  the  crate  of  'A'hite  Leghorns 
already  mentioned.  Other  crates  were  filled  by  hucksters,  who 
bought  up  fowls  from  farmers  and  others,  j)ut  them  together  in  lots 
of  fifteen  to  twenty-five,  and  ofiered  them  for  sale  on  the  streets. 
Buying  such  crates  was  a  good  deal  of  a  lottery ;  frequently  two  or 
three  very  good  birds  would  he  found  mixed  with  a  lot  of  the  \'eri- 
est  trash,  and  sometimes  a  country  henwife  would  have  a  lot  of 
sick  chickens,  and  they  would  find  their  way  into  these  lots,  the 
owner  being  anxious  to  sell  them  and  get  the  money  before  the  birds 


no  COMMON    SENSE 

died  or  wasted  away.  I  generally  gave  such  crates  the  go-by,  but 
on  one  or  two  occasions  I  made  some  fine  additions  to  my  yards. 

I  pursued  this  course  until  I  liad  secured  537  hens  and  about 
300  cocks.  TJie  birds,  as  i)urchased,  were  carefully  looked  over, 
and  all  that  seemed  to  be  in  the  slightest  degree  out  of  health  were 
placed  in  quarantine  in  one  of  the  yards,  and  kept  there  until  I 
was  certain  that  all  was  right.  I  was  very  fortunate,  however,  and 
did  not  lose  a  single  bird. 

The  mongrel  cocks  were  placed  at  once  in  large  coops  and  liber- 
ally fed — soft  food  forming  a  large  part  of  their  diet.  Two  weeks 
of  such  treatment  made  a  great  improvement  in  most  of  them,  but 
on  some  of  them  it  had  no  effect  whatever.  They  were  killed, 
dressed  and  sent  to  market  as  fast  as  they  could  be  got  ready,  and 
brought  fair  prices,  but  I  doubt  if  the  results  paid  for  the  time,  feed 
and  labor  expended.  If  I  were  to  stock  another  yard  in  the  same 
way  I  would  send  the  cocks  to  market  at  once  and  get  rid  of 
them,  charging  the  loss  to  the  cost  of  the  hens. 

1  was  now  ready  to  take  stock.  I  found  that  I  had  537  hens, 
which  cost  me  to  date  $302.23  for  bird?,  food,  etc.  This  allowed 
for  the  money  received  for  the  cocks  sold,  but  I  had  on  hand  a 
small  quantity  of  food  (perhaps  $15  worth)  the  cost  of  which  is  in- 
cluded in  the  $302.23,  and  which  I  have  not  taken  into  considera- 
tion. 

The  hens  were  a  motley  lot.  When  a  number  of  hens  of  even 
pure-bred  fowls  of  different  varieties  are  mixed  together,  they  are 
apt  to  have  a  mongrel  look,  while  even  a  lot  of  real  mongrels,  pro- 
vided they  are  all  nearly  alike  in  size,  shape  and  color,  may  present 
a  very  attractive  appearance.  My  first  work,  therefore,  was  to  sort 
them  into  lots  that  were  tolerably  well  mated. 

Out  of  all  the  cocks,  I  saved  only  a  few  White  Leghorns,  a 
Spangled  Hamburgh  and  three  Dominiques.  I  was  satisfied  that 
they  were  sufficiently  pure  and  good  to  enable  me  to  experiment 
with  them.  Meanwhile,  I  obtained  from  different  noted  breeders, 
one  Dark  Brahma,  one  White  Leghorn,  one  Spangled  Hamburgh, 
and  three  Light  Brahma  cocks,  and  I  set  aside  the  ten  small  coops 
to  accommodate  them,  and  two  Wliite  Leghorns,  one  Spangled 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  Ill 

Hamburgh  and  one  Brown  Leghorn,  from  my  general  purchases. 
Then,  beginning  with  the  Dominiques,  I  picked  out  all  the  best  hens 
that  I  could  find  of  this  breed,  and  wlien  I  got  through,  I  found 
that  I  had  three  very  respectable  breeding  pens  of  this  variety. 
Indeed,  I  confess,  I  was  somewliat  surprised  to  find  them  so  good, 
and  as  the  cocks  were  all  first  class,  I  looked  forward  to  having 
come  excellent  results. 

I  then  took  tlie  pens  containing  the  Spangled  Hamburgh  cocks. 
I  did  not  find  a  single  hen  to  match,  so  I  filled  each  of  them  up 
witli  four  of  the  best  Dominiques  I  had  left  and  two  very  fair 
Brail  ma  pullets.  In  this  case,  too,  I  had  no  reason  to  feel  dis- 
satisfied. 

Next  came  the  White  Leghorns.  There  were  quite  a  number 
of  very  excellent  Leghorn  hens  amongst  my  purchases,  so  I  filled 
one  coop  with  the  best  I  had.  This  was  a  very  handsome  pen. 
In  the  other  pens  I  placed  Dominiques  and  Brahma  hens.  I  had 
great  faith  in  this  cross  and  resolved  to  give  it  a  fair  trail. 

With  the  Brown  Leghorns,  I  did  not  have  such  good  luck.  I  had 
no  Brown  Leghorn  hens  that  could  be  called  pure,  and  my 
Dominiques  were  now  getting  down  to  culls.  However,  I  made  up 
two  of  the  best  pens  I  couUl,  and  awaited  results. 

The  ten  pens  drafted  sixty  hens  from  my  flock.  With  those  I 
had  at  first  and  what  were  left  of  the  537  hens  I  bought,  I  had 
just  523  left  over.  The  problem  now,  was,  to  dispose  of  these 
birds. 

My  experience  has  been  that  to  change  the  roosting  place  of  a 
hen  is  a  difficult  matter.  A  setting  hen  is  a  stubborn  thing,  but  she 
is  gentleness  itself,  compared  with  a  hen  that  is  determined  to 
roost  where  she  is  not  wanted.  I  have  never  been  able  to  change 
the  roosting  i)lace  of  a  hen,  except  by  shutting  her  up  in  her  new 
coo[)  for  two  or  three  weeks,  and  even  this  [)lan  does  not  always 
work.  Of  course,  when  a  hen  is  removed  to  such  a  distance  that 
she  loses  all  knowledge  of  her  locality,  she  may  be  made  to  roost  any- 
where. 'J'his  was  the  condition  in  which  my  hens  were  at  this 
time,  so  that  all  I  liad  to  do  was  to  sort  them  into  lots  of  about  75 
each,  place  each    lot  in    its  own   house  and    yard,  and  leave  them 


112  COMMON    SENSE 

there  for  two  or  three  weeks.     At  the  end  of  that  time  they  were 
to  have  the  freedom  of  the  entire  place. 

For  the  first  lot,  tlien,  I  carefully  examined  my  flock  and  selected 
75  birds,  all  as  nearly  alike  as  possible,  and  as  near  like  Dominiques 
as  I  could  get  them.  We  now  tried  to  transfer  them  to  their  own 
coop,  but  in  so  doing  some  serious  accidents  occurred — one  fowl 
had  a  leg  broken,  and  another  had  a  wing  dislocated  before  we 
had  captured  a  dozen.  I  acted  as  looker  on,  while  younger  and 
more  active  legs  and  hands  did  the  work  of  catching.  The  young 
men  that  I  employed  were  not  rough  or  thoughtless  in  regard  to 
the  pain  inflicted  upon  animals,  but  I  could  see  that  to  handle 
four  or  five  hundred  birds,  catching  them  by  hand,  was  a  task  that 
no  one  could  perform  without  great  risk  of  accident  to  the  fowls. 
I  therefore  ordered  the  wounded  birds,  killed  and  stopped  all 
further  proceedings.  The  men  were  set  at  work  on  the  next 
house,  while  I  went  to  town  to  procure  a  good  net.  In  my 
younger  days  I  had  bad  considerable  experience  catching  fish  with 
a  landing  net,  and  I  felt  that  with  a  good  instrument  of  that  kind  I 
could  catch  any  fowl  in  my  flock,  without  ruffling  a  feather  or  hurt- 
ing a  limb.  So  before  I  went  I  told  the  carpenter  to  get  me  out  a 
pole  of  the  lightest  but  straightest  grained  pine  he  could  find,  7  feet 
long,  i^  inches  in  diameter  at  the  butt  and  iji  inches  at  the  top. 
When  I  returned  I  brought  a  bag  net,  30  inches  in  diameter  at 
the  mouth,  but  very  considerably  less  at  the  bottom,  and  40  inches 
deep.  I  also  had  a  tough,  dry  hoop  pole  which  was  passed 
through  the  upper  meshes  of  the  net  and  then  tied  firmly  to  the 
pine  pole.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  huge  landing  net  with  i}(  inch 
meshes,  and  I  proceeded  to  try  it.  Selecting  a  bird,  I  walked 
gently  up  to  it,  and  by  a  sudden  movement,  I  placed  the  net  over  it 
and  had  it.  If  I  had  used  a  /mg,  the  bird  would  have  dodged 
under  the  hoop  but  as  the  net  seemed  to  offer  no  obstruction,  the 
bird  ran  right  into  it,  and  was  caught.  It  was  no  trouble  at  all, 
and  thereafter  I  needed  no  help  in  catching  the  fowls.  But  I 
found  that  after  they  were  caught  it  took  too  much  time  to  carry 
each  bird  singly  to  its  new  yard.     I  therefore  had  a  transfer  coop 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD. 


113 


d 


Ob 


mad^/.  It  was  simply  a  light  but  strong  frame  work,  two  feet 
high,  four  feet  long  and  three  feet  wide. 

The  bottom  was  closely  slatted,  and  the  sides  and  top  were  made 
of  lath  cut  in  two  and  nailed  on.  In  the  top  was  a  door  which 
lifted  up  and  through  which  the  fowls  were  dropped.  This  door 
was  close  to  one  side,  and  when  we  wished  to  give  the  birds  their 
freedom  the  coop  was  placed  on  its  side,  the  door  oj^ened,  and 
the  birds  allowed  to  run  out.  I  could  easily  put  twenty  hens 
into  it,  and  two  men  could  then  carry  it  to  any  j^art  of  the  grounds. 
I  soon  filled  it,  carried  it  into  the  new  yard,  and  gave  the  birds 
their  liberty  without  a  single  accident. 

By  this  time,  however,  the  hens  had  be- 
come pretty  wild  and  somewhat  difficult  to 
approach.  I  therefore  arranged  some 
portable  fence,  so  as  to- make  at  one  corner 
of  the  large  yard  a  small  enclosure  some- 
what of  the  form  shown  in  Fig.  10. 

At  the  corner,  a,  the  two  fences  ran 
quite  dose  to  each  other;  at  b  tlie  space 
was  much  wider;  at  c  the  outside  fence 
and  the  portable  fence  came  together 
again,  and  another  length  of  fence 
stretched  from  c  to  d,  so  as  to  make  a 
wide  throat  to  the  enclosure.  It  was  easy 
to  drive  any  particular  fowl  into  d^  and 
when  once  there  it  could  be  driven 
through  <r,  where  a  boy  stood  with  a  pole 
and  kept  those  that  were  in  from  coming 

out.  If  some  got  in  that  were  not  wanted  it  was  no  matter,  as  they 
need  not  be  caught.  When  enough  were  in  it  was  easy  to  close  the 
passage  at  ^,  and  by  means  of  the  net  select  the  birds  that  were 
wanted.  It  is  possible  that  other  poulterers  have  better  methods 
of  catching  birds  tlian  this,  but  I  have  not  seen  any.  Where  there 
is  but  a  small  number  of  fowls  together  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  catch 
any  one  at  night  on  the  roost,  and  I  have  done  this  very  often. 
But  where  75  hens  are  to  be  selected  and  caught  out  of  500,  and 


Fiff.  10. 


114  COMMON    SENSE 

carried  to  a  new  coop,  the  hand  net  saves  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
to  the  owner,  and  many  a  twisted  leg  and  wing  to  the  birds. 

The  first  yard  made  quite  a  respectable  ap})earance  after  all. 
Although  I  had  found  it  difficult  to  complete  my  third  breeding 
pen  of  Dominiques,  yet  when  I  had  got  togetlier  all  the  hens  that 
resembled  Dominiques  they  formed  a  very  handsome  flock,  their 
very  numbers  seeming  to  cover  and  excuse  any  slight  irregularity. 

The  second  yard  I  filled  with  birds  that  were  as  nearly  white  as 
possible.  Amongst  them  were  quite  a  number  of  pure  Leghorns 
and  some  very  light  Brahmas.  Most  of  tliem,  however,  were  evi- 
dently mere  mongrels.  After  I  had  sorted  out  75  white  birds  of 
pretty  good  quahty  I  had  nearly  30  white  ones  left,  but  many  of 
them  were  quite  inferior. 

Those  for  the  third  yard  were  selected  to  match,  as  nearly  as 
possible,  a  hen  which  was  in  the  lot  that  I  found  on  the  place, 
and  which  my  little  friend  Nettie  used  to  call  Dame  Parten.  She 
resembled  somewhat  a  Brown  Leghorn,  and  was  a  most  excellent 
hen,  though  rather  small.  She  laid  a  good-sized  egg  and  i)lenty 
of  them,  and  she  herself  we  had  placed  in  a  breeding  coop  with  a 
Brown  Leghorn  cock,  but  we  adopted  her  as  a  model  for  yard 
No.  3,  and  we  succeeded  in  getting  over  60  hens  that  nearly  re- 
sembled her.  Rather  than  break  the  uniformity  of  the  yard,  I  let 
it  go  with  this  number. 

It  now  began  to  be  difficult  to  find  enough  birds  that  would 
match  in  color  to  fill  any  one  pen,  so  I  adopted  a  somewhat  differ- 
ent plan.     I  now  matched  them  for  size  and  shape. 

The  hens  that  were  originally  on  the  place  were  of  all  shapes, 
sizes  and  colors,  but  as  they  knew  the  old  coop,  and  the  old  coop 
only,  as  their  home,  it  was  not  best  to  try  and  make  a  change.  I 
therefore  let  them  remain  as  they  were,  merely  adding  enough  birds 
to  make  up  100 — a  number  which  I  considered  it  possible  to  ac- 
commodate comfortably.  The  hens  that  I  selected  were  the  best 
of  odd  colors.  Some  of  them  were  very  handsome  birds,  but  the 
lack  of  uniformity  told  greatly  against  their  appearance. 

\\\  making  up  the  other  yards  I  now  began  with  the  poorest.  I 
picked  out  all  the  smallest  and  least  promising  of  the  birds  that 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  II5 

were  left  and  put  them  together.  The  remainder  were  then  simply 
divided  amongst  the  other  yards  according  to  size. 

Towards  the  last  I  found  it  necessary  to  use  the  movable  fenc- 
ing used  for  the  large  yard.  I  therefore  finished  all  the  houses  and 
l)ut  a  yard  round  one  of  them.  All  the  fowls  not  already  i)rovided 
for  were  transferred  to  tliis,  and  then  the  large  yard  was  disman- 
tled, the  fence  taken  down,  nests,  etc.  consigned  to  the  manure 
heap,  and  the  fence  posts  pulled  up.  With  this  material  at  hand 
it  was  easy  to  enclose  the  other  yards  in  a  few  hours,  so  that  the 
birds  were  not  kept  very  long  in  confined  quarters. 

The  birds  seemed  to  take  kindly  to  their  new  homes,  and  as  the 
entire  place  was  new  to  them  all,  at  the  end  of  four  days  I  let  one 
lot  out  and  gave  them  the  fieedom  of  the  place.  Every  one  re- 
turned to  its  own  house — perhaps  because  they  could  not  go  any- 
where else.  Next  day  I  let  another  lot  out.  After  four  da3S  I  let 
two  lots  out  together,  and  as  soon  as  all  the  lots  had  been  out  I 
opened  all  the  gates  and  gave  them  all  their  freedom.  When  this 
had  been  done  and  the  birds,  on  a  fine  day,  were  scattered  over 
the  place,  I  was  considerably  surprised  at  the  small  show  that  they 
made.  The  place  looked  as  if  it  could  hold  ten  times  as  many 
with  great  ease.  This  seems  to  be  always  the  feeling  when  a 
thousand  or  less  birds  are  seen  together.  The  flock  does  not  ap- 
pear as  large  as  we  expected. 


Il6  COMMON    SENSE 


Unhex  ttlag  at  Cast.— illore  ^dp  IXccbth, 


HE  enterprise  was  now  fully  under  way.  More  than 
half  the  laying  stock  was  on  hand  ;  a  goodly  number 
of  young  chickens  were  coming  forward  for  next  year,  and 
I  felt  that  twelve  months  from  the  time  of  which  I  write  I  would 
have  my  poultry  farm  in  full  working  order,  and  tliat  the  question 
of  success  or  failure  would  have  been  decided.  Already  we  began 
to  get  some  returns  in  the  shape  of  eggs,  although,  of  course,  the 
number  was  small — about  six  dozen  per  day  from  all  our  hens. 
Still  this  was  quite  as  much  as  I  expected,  for  experience  has 
taught  me  that  hens  which  have  been  worried  and  frightened,  and 
probably  kept  on  short  allowance  of  food  and  water  while  passing 
from  the  hands  of  the  seller  to  that  of  the  purchaser,  cannot  be 
expected  to  lay  for  some  time.  Hence,  I  have  always  found  that 
for  the  time  being,  other  things  being  equal,  birds  reared  on  a 
place  are  much  more  valuable  for  that  place  than  those  that  are 
purchased.  After  a  time,  however,  the  birds  pick  up  and  begin  to 
lay,  and  it  is  just  possible  that  the  stoppage  caused  by  moving  may 
throw  the  laying  period  into  a  later  and  more  profitable  season. 
This  was  my  case  precisely.  The  hens  kept  laying  more  and 
more  as  the  season  grew  later  and  eggs  grew  dearer,  and  this  was, 
of  course,  to  my  advantage. 

A  great  deal  of  nonsense  has  been  written  about  egg  laying  which 
it  would  be  well  if  poultry  breeders  would  get  out  of  their  heads. 
One  of  the  most  erroneous  and  yet  most  plausible  theories  is  that 
advanced  by  Geyelin  in  his  book  "  Poultry  Breeding  in  a  Commer- 
cial Point  of  View."  He  gravely  tells  us  that  "  it  has  been  ascer- 
tained that  the  ovarium  of  a  fowl  is  composed  of  six  hundred 
ovulas  or  eggs;  therefore,  a  hen,  during  the  whole  of  her  life,  can- 
not possibly  lay  more  eggs  than  six  hundred,  which,  in  a  natural 
course,  are  distributed  over  nine  years  in  the  following  proportion ; 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  II7 

First  year  after  birth 15  to    20 

Second  "  "          loo  "120 

Third  "  "          120  "135 

Fourth  "  "          100  "115 

Fifth  "  " 60  "     80 

Sixth  "  "          50  "     60     . 

Seventh  "  "          35  "    40 

Eighth  "  "          15  "     20 

Ninth  "  "          I  "     10 

It  follows  that  it  would  not  be  profitable  to  keep  hens  after  their 
fourth  year,  as  their  produce  would  not  pay  for  their  keep,  except 
when  they  are  of  a  valuable  or  scarce  breed." 

This  theory  is  evidently  a  mere  modification  of  that  popularly 
held  in  regard  to  seeds.  Many  believe  that  the  huge  oak  lies 
coiled  in  miniature  in  the  acorn,  and  that  the  process  of  growth  is 
a  mere  unfolding.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  in  the  sense  here  ex- 
pressed this  is  untrue.  And  so  with  the  ovaries  of  the  hen.  Geye- 
liii's  theory  is  that  even  in  the  little  chick  the  future  eggs  all  exist 
in  microscopic  embryo,  and  are  merely  "  unfolded"  as  the  months 
roll  by.  No  man,  having  a  sound  knowledge  of  physiology,  could 
hold  any  such  opinion.  The  same  power  which  originated  the 
most  microscopic  of  the  egg-embryos  that  we  see  in  the  ovaries 
of  a  laying  hen,  when  we  kill  her  and  cut  her  open,  exists  with  all 
its  potency  in  every  healthy  hen,  and  may  go  on  developing  new 
eggs  ad  infinitum^  provided  other  conditions  do  not  interfere. 
These  conditions  are  the  exhaustion  produced  by  rapid  egg-laying; 
the  decay  of  all  the  powers  by  age;  the  accumulation  of  fat  when 
the  bird  is  highly  fed,  and  its  weakening  when  food  is  stinted; 
these  and  similar  causes  limit  the  number  of  eggs  produced  by 
any  one  hen,  and  not  the  foct  that  her  store  of  embryo  eggs  is 
exhausted.  Hence,  the  number  of  eggs  laid  by  different  hens 
varies  very  much ;  some  are  quickly  exhausted  by  a  small  num- 
ber, others  go  on  laying  freely,  and  it  is  for  the  poulterer  to 
determine  what  the  character  of  his  flock  shall  be  in  this  re- 
spect. 


Il8  COMMON    SENSE 

The  liens  now  in  my  yards  were  in  pretty  fair  condition.  Some 
of  tliem  were,  evidently,  quite  old  and  showed  no  signs  of  moult- 
ing; some  of  the  younger  ones  were  already  beginning  to  moult. 
I  took  care  that  every  morning  they  all  had  a  liberal  feed  of  rich 
soft  food,  and  instead  of  the  number  of  eggs  that  were  laid  decreas- 
hig,  they  actually  increased — an  unusual  thing  for  this  season  of  the 
year.  But  this  involved  extra  work  and  care,  and  I  soon  saw  that 
more  help  was  needed  to  do  tlie  birds  justice. 

In  restiicting  the  number  of  fowls  the  first  year,  I  was  guided,  in 
a  measure,  by  the  amount  of  help  at  my  disposal.  My  own. 
time  I  considered  equal  to  half  that  of  one  man;  the  servant  girl 
rendered  us  some  valuable  assistance,  and  the  man  gave  perhaps 
one-third  of  his  time  to  the  poultry.  With  this  amount  of  labor  at 
command,  it. was  difficult  to  give  more  than  ordinary  care  to  the 
number  of  fowls  on  hand,  together  with  a  few  broods,  so  that  I  felt 
the  need  of  some  person  wlio  would  give  his  whole  time  to 
carrying  out  the  details  of  the  work,  while  I  devoted  myself  to 
superintendence,  marketing,  etc.  Having  a  stout  man  to  do  any 
hard  work  or  heavy  lifting,  it  occurred  to  me  that  an  honest,  care- 
ful woman  w'^ould  prove  the  best  assistant,  if  I  could  find  one  willing 
to  do  the  work. 

I  made  quite  an  extended  inquiry,  and  had  a  great  many  offers, 
but  without  any  favorable  results.  The  objections  to  those  wlio 
a[)[)lied  were  obvious  and  numerous,  and  I  was  about  to  give  up 
in  disgust  the  idea  of  employing  a  woman,  when  I  received  a  visit 
from  the  pastor  of  a  German  Catholic  church,  in  a  neighboring  city. 
It  seems  that  he  had  heard  of  my  want,  and  that  amongst  his 
parishioners  was  a  woman  of  about  forty-five,  who  had  come  to 
this  country  a  few  years  ago,  from  Switzerland,  with  a  husband  and 
step-daughter.  The  husband  had  died  and  the  daughter  had  got 
married,  and  the  poor  woman  was  alone  in  a  strange  land.  In  this 
country,  those  who  are  wilHng  to  work  need  rarely  be  idle,  and 
she  found  enough  to  do  at  odd  jobs  to  keep  her  fully  employed,  but 
she  wished  to  find  a  home  where  employment  would  be  perman- 
ent. On  inquiry,  I  found  that  she  had  been  accustomed  to  work 
out  of  doors,  when   she  was  in   Europe;    she  was  strong,  healthy 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  I19 

and  had  been  accustomed  to  tlie  care  of  animals.  Her  pastor  re- 
commended her  very  highly  for  honesty  and  steadiness,  so  I  gave 
him  what  we  thought  would  be  her  expenses  in  coming  to  see  me, 
and  arranged  a  time  when  she  should  meet  my  man  with  the 
spring  wagon.  She  came  and  after  she  had  seen  the  coops,  houses 
and  yards,  and  had  her  duties  fully  explained,  she  thought  that 
she  would  like  to  try  the  place  at  any  rate.  So  I  engaged  her  and 
set  her  to  work  at  once,  sending  my  man  that  afternoon  for  her 
trunk,  etc. 

Her  duties  were  to  be  the  care  of  the  fowls  of  which  she  was  to 
have  entire  charge  under  my  directions.  Tlie  man  was  to  perform 
certain  definite  portions  of  the  work,  such  as  cleaning  out  the 
houses,  cracking  corn  for  the  young  chickens,  grinding  bones  and 
oyster  shells,  carrying  lood  and  water,  and  similar  jobs,  and  of 
course  when  the  coo[)S  were  to  be  moved  and  work  of  that  kind 
to  be  done,  she  was  not  expected  to  do  much.  But  I  found  that 
that  she  was  as  strong  as  an  average  man,  and  a  great  deal  more 
willing,  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  prevent  her  hel[)ing  us  with 
everything.  Her  name  was  Margaret  and  she  proved  indeed  a 
"  pearl,"  and  to  her  faithfulness  and  intelligence  much  of  the  suc- 
cess of  my  experiment  was  due 

As  soon  as  she  came  she  entered  earnestly  u[)on  her  duties. 
The  various  yards  were  kept  open  or  shut,  as  required,  with  great 
regularity;  the  breeding  coops  were  visited  regularly,  the  eggs  re- 
moved and  the  nests  kept  in  good  order,  and  all  the  birds,  old  and 
young,  were  carefully  fed.  She  did  not  profess  to  know  anything 
about  the  different  kinds  of  food,  and  had  no  special  notions  about 
feeding  and  management.  Slie  had  fed  her  chickens  in  the  old 
country  ui)on  whatever  she  could  get,  and  occasionally  gave  them 
a  little  pepper  and  old  mortar  pounded  up,  but  beyond  this  she 
had  no  nostiums,  and  was  ready  to  do  anything  that  I  told  her.  'I'his 
made  her  invaluable,  for  it  left  me  free  to  be  guided  by  my  own 
knowledge,  and  assured  me  that  my  plans  and  experiments  would 
not  be  secretly  thwarted  by  some  one  that  thought  she  knew  better 
than  I  did. 

I  fully  realized  that   the  financial   results  of  my  present  stock, 


I20  COMMON    SENSE 

would  depend,  somewhat,  on  the  way  they  were  managed,  as  re- 
gards feeding.  I  looked  upon  the  birds  now  in  my  possession  as  a 
mere  means  to  secure  a  better  flock  next  year,  and  therefore  I  had 
no  hesitation  about  getting  all  I  could  out  of  them,  and  as  soon  as 
I  could.     After  that  I  proposed  to  let  them  go. 

If  I  had  known  much  about  their  ages  and  qualities,  I  would 
]:)robably  have  adopted  a  different  principle  in  se[)arating  them  into 
lots.  I  would  have  put  those  of  the  same  age  and  the  same  time 
of  moulting  together,  but  as  I  had  no  information  on  this  point,  I 
was  obliged  to  employ  an  entirely  artificial  classification.  Here- 
after, however,  it  would  be  easy  to  have  all  the  hens  in  each  yard 
of  the  same  age,  and  they  could  be  disposed  of  at  once  and  to- 
getner. 

In  talking  with  poultry  keepers,  I  find  the  most  diverse  opinions 
jirevalent  in  regard  to  the  requisites  for  securing  an  abundant  sup- 
ply of  eggs.  Many  hold  that  it  is  entirely  in  the  breed ;  others 
place  more  dependence  on  the  kind  of  food  that  is  given. 

I  could  not  change  the  breed  of  birds  now  in  my  possession, 
but  I  could  regulate  their  feed  carefully,  and  I  resolved  to  pay 
great  attention  to  this  point.  My  opinion  was  then  and  is  now, 
that  the  best  breed  in  the  world  will  not  give  satisfactory  results 
without  special  attention  to  the  feed,  but  I  also  believe  that  a  great 
deal  of  good  food  is  wasted  on  worthless  fowls. 


IN   THE    POULTRY   YARD.  121 


OME  writers  tell  us  that  the  hen  is  a  mere  machine  for 
producing  eggs — taking  in  corn  at  one  end  and  turning 
out  eggs  at  the  other.  Although  this  is  rather  a  coarse 
view  of  the  subject,  there  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  in  the  statement; 
and  therefore  it  is  very  obvious  that  a  hen  cannot  produce  eggs 
unless  her  food  is  of  the  right  kind,  as  well  as  right  in  quantity. 
Now,  chemistry  enables  us  to  tell  exacUy  what  is  wanted  to  pro- 
duce an  egg;  it  is  simply  the  materials  of  an  egg,  and  by  chemistry 
we  can  easily  find  out  what  these  are.  Almost  any  ordinary  food 
will  keep  a  cock  in  good  health  and  condition,  but  unless  we  give 
our  hens  the  right  kind  of  food,  the  supply  of  eggs  will  grow  less. 
To  produce  an  egg  the  hen  must  take  in  the  material  required  for  an 
egg,  and  unfortunately  there  is  no  form  pf  food  which  will  exactly 
represent  an  egg  and  no  more.  Now,  whatever  is  over  is  waste,  and 
must  be  got  rid  of,  and  if  there  is  too  much  of  this  waste  the 
system  gets  clogged  up  and  disease  or  unfruitfulness  is  the  result. 
Thus,  if  we  feed  our  hens  nothing  but  corn,  in  a  short  time  they 
will  become  so  fat  that  they  become  diseased,  and  egg  laying 
ceases.  But,  if  for  part  of  the  corn  we  substitute  other  forms  of 
food,  such  as  flesh,  bones,  cotton-seed  cake,  clover,  etc.,  the  num- 
ber of  eggs  produced  is  greatly  increased.  All  ex})erience  confirms 
this,  and  in  our  experimental  coops  we  have  seen  it  ])roved  over 
and  over  again. 

What,  then,  are  the  materials  required  to  form  an  egg?  In  ad- 
dition to  the  carbon,  hydrogen  and  oxygen,  which  are  found  in 
large  proportions  in  all  forms  of  food,  there  is  needed  principally 
nitrogen,  phosphorus,  suli)hur  and  lime.  It  is  not  difficult  to 
supply  plenty  of  these  at  a  clie.ip  rate,  and  in  good  form,  if  we  only 
know  how.  Instead  of  a  disserlaiio:^  on  chemistry,  however,  let  us 
have  a  talk  about  eugs,  and  src  what  is  needed  for  the  different 


i2i2  '"'     COMMON    SENSE       •: 

parts,  these  being  the  sliell,  the  white  and  the  yolk.  The  shell  of 
tlie  egg  is  made  up  chiefly  of  carbonate  of  lime.  Our  readers  will 
find  a  full  analysis  in  any  work  on  organic  chemistry,  but  with  this 
we  need  not  concern  ourselves  at  present.  The  practical  question 
is:  Can  our  fowls  get  a  sufficient  supply  of  this  material  in  their 
ordinary  food,  and  if  not,  where  can  we  find  it?  It  is  more  than 
probable  'that  those  birds  which  are  not  fed  by  man,  obtain  in 
drinking  water  a  large  porportion  of  the  lime  used  in  the  formation 
of  egg  shells.  Almost  all  the  water  of  streams,  ponds  and  wells 
contains  a  small  })ercentage  of  lime.  And  where  the  number  of 
eggs  is  not  large,  lime  in  sufficient  quantity  may  also  be  obtained 
frorn  ordinary  food.  But  where  we  want  eggs  in  large  numbers,  it 
will  not  do  to  dei)end  upon  theses  sources,  and  lime  must  be  sup- 
plied as  a  regular  article  of  food.  It  will  not  do  to  give  the  caus- 
tic lime  used  for  whitewashing,  however.  We  have  known  fowls 
to  be  killed  by  eating  such  lime.  'J'he  lime  must  be  rendered 
"mild"  as  it  is  called,  by  exposure  to  the  air  for  months  or 
years.  Hence  old  mortar  answers  well,  and  all  the  better  from  the 
sharj)  gravel  which  it  contains.  By  mortar  we  do  not  mean  plaster 
or  '-hard  finish,"  but  the  iliortar  used  for  building.  A  pile  of 
this,  if  i)laced  in  one  corner  of  the  yard,  will  be  constantly  frequented 
by  the  hens. 

Another  excellent  source  of  lime  is  found  in  oyster  shells.  They 
supply  not  only  lime,  but  a  small  percentage  of  i)hosphorus*  as 
well,  and  the  fowls  pick  them  ui)  greedily.  They  can  generally  be 
had  in  any  quantity  for  the  asking,  and  are  easily  reduced  to 
coarse  powder  or  roughly  broken  by  a  hammer  or  stamper.  In 
using  a  hammer,  the  best  Avay  is  to  place  a  heap  of  the  shells  in  a 
shallow  box  and  hammer  them — the  hanmier  having  a  long 
•handle— or  they  may  be  j^ounded  with  a  pestle  made  like  a  pavior's 
-rammer.  This  is  a  very  efficient  way.  Or,  if  the  fowls  have  access 
to  a  wagon  road  leading  through  the  grounds,  the  shells  may  be 
simply  laid  dovvn  thickly  all  over  the  road  way.  The  wheels  and 
"hoofs  soon  break  them  up  and  they  make  a  very  good  surface  to 
-the  road. 


*Tide  Watt's  i?ic/tou«r</  of  Chemistry,  article  Oysters. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YAKD.  12^ 

These  ate  all  makeshifts,  however.  The  best  way  to  reduce 
shells  to  powder  is  to  pass  them  through  a  mill  made  for  tlie  pur- 
pose. Such  mills  are  manufactured  at  Easton,  Pa.,  by  Wilson 
Bros.,  for  $5.00  each,  and  will  easily  grind  enough  shells  in  ten  min- 
utes to  sup{)ly  twenty  hens  for  a  week.  A  large  portion  of  the 
shells  is  reduced  to  a  very  fine  powder,  and  this  should  be  sifted 
out  and  kept  by  itself.  The  coarse  chips  are  greedily  picked  up  by 
the  fowls,  while  the  fine  powder  may  be  mixed  with  their  cooked 
food  in  the  proportion  of  a  gill  of  i)owder  to  a  gallon  of  food. 

We  have  seen  writers  in  the  agricultural  journals  recommend 
himl  oyster  shells  for  fowls  Oyster  shells  consist  almost  wholly  of 
carbonate  of  lime,  and  when  burned  this' is  converted  into  caustic 
lime.  To  give  a  fowl  solid  pieces  of  caustic  lime  to  swallow  is  not 
a  very  prudent  proceeding,  to  say  the  least  of  it. 

Another  important  source  of  lime  is  bones.  Bones  contain  both- 
lime  and  phosphorus,  and  form  one  of  the  very  best  additions  to 
our  poultry  food.  The  directions  usually  given  for  using  them, 
however,  are  exceedingly  wasteful.  Most  writers  direct  us  to  ^i/r/i 
them,  so  that  they  may  be  i)ounded  easily.*  To  burn  bones  diat 
are  intended  for  food  is  a  good  deal  Hke  bunding  corn  and  feeding 
the  ashes. t  We  i)refer  fresh  bones,  which  are  fed  either  cooked  or 
raw.  To  cook  them  we  fill  a  good-sized  pot  with  water,  put  in  the 
bones  with  as  much  flesh  on  as  possible,  and  let  the  whole  simmer 
gently,  just  as  if  making  soup.  When  thoroughly  cooked  the  bones 
are  taken  out,  and  the  "  soup"  is  made  into  "mush"  with  Indian 
meal.     Such  mush  is  very  nutritious.     The  flesh  is  now  cut  from 

*  Since  bones  are  composed  chiefly  of  pliospliate  of  lime,  witli  a  very  little  car- 
bonate, tliey  are  not  rendered  caustic  by  beino;  burned,  and  consequently  tlie 
objection  which  holds  in  the  case  of  burned  oyster  sliells  does  not  apply  to  them. 
Tlie  process  of  burning  is  simply  a  wasteful  one. 

t  Parched  or  charred  corn  is.  however,  a  very  difterent  matter.  One  of  tlie 
best  tonics  for  fowls,  especially  if  they  show  a  slight  tendency  either  to  consti- 
pation or  diarrhoea,  is  charred  corn.  We  have  a  larire  kettle,'which  we  bought 
for  old  iron  because  it  was  cracked,  in  which  we  occasionally  parcli  corn  for  our 
chickens.  The  kettle  was  roughly  "set"  in  brickwork  by  our  man,  and  the 
chimney  is  simi)ly  two  lengtlis  of  old  stove  pipe,  the  whole  being  out  of  doors. 
A  wooden  cover  keeps  rain  and  snow  out  of  the  pot.  A  tire  of  bnish  soon  heals 
the  kettle  so  that  it  will  char  corn.  Haifa  bushel  is  then  poured  in  and  con- 
stantly stirred  until  it  is  quite  dark- partially  burned,  in  fact.  The  chickens  eat 
It  greedily,  and  we  feel  certain  that  if  does  them  good.  Of  course  we  feed  but 
small  quantities  of  it.  Occasionally,  however,  we  find  chickens  that  will  not 
touch  it.    In  that  case  moisten  it  arid  roll  it  in  "  feed." 


124  COMMON    SENSE 

the  bones,  and  the  latter  are  passed  througli  a  Wilson  mill. 
This  grinds  them  up  into  a  coarse  powder,  whicli  may  be  either  fed 
directly  or  mixed  with  the  cooked  food.  As  a  general  rule,  the 
quantity  of  fine  powder  is  not  very  great,  and  as  the  moist  bones 
are  difficult  to  sift  we  let  the  chickens  do  the  sorting.  They  are 
greedy  for  bones  or  any  animal  matter,  so  we  throw  the  ground 
1  bones  into  shallow  boxes  or  trouglis,  and  after  they  have  eaten  all 
tliey  can  pick  up  we  dump  the  rest  into  the  kettle  of  cooked  food 
and  stir  the  mass  thoroughly. 

There  are  several  establishments  that  grind  bones  and  offer  the 
"  bone  meal  "  or  "ground  bone  "  for  sale.  Most  of  this  stuff  is  in- 
tended for  manure,  and  is  fit  for  nothing  else.  It  is  made  from 
bones  of  all  kinds — most  of  them  so  putrid  that  they  "smell  to 
heaven."  Such  material  is,  of  course,  totally  unfit  for  food  for  ani- 
mals. Some  manufacturers,  however,  profess  to  prepare  bone  meal 
expressly  for  food  for  cows  and  poultry.  The  bones  are  fresh,  they 
are  ground  at  once,  and  the  meal  is  thoroughly  dried,  so  that  any 
adhering  flesh  is  prev^ented  from  putrifying.  Some  samples  that  we 
tried  were  quite  sweet,  and  the  fowls  relished  them  and  throve  on 
on  them.  Other  specimens  seemed  to  make  the  birds  sick  very 
quickly,  causing  diarrhoea,  drooping,  and  general  ill  health.  We 
found,  however,  that  a  thorough  boiling  for  at  least  an  hour  ren- 
dered them  quite  wholesome,  probably  by  destroying  the  i)utrefying 
agents.  But  in  all  cases  it  is  best  to  get  sweet  fresh  bone  meal,  and 
the  best  test  for  these  qualities  is  to  fill  a  saucer  with  the  stuff, 
moisten  it  thoroughly,  and  see  if  it  remains  sweet  after  the  lapse  of 
two  or  three  hours.  Fresh  meat  will  hardly  putrify,  even  in  a  warm 
room,  during  an  hour,  but  if  it  has  been  tainted  already,  and  then 
dried  so  that  it  gives  off  no  smell,  and  merely  appears  fresh,  this 
test  will  generally  bring  out  its  evil  qualities.  Of  course  it  should 
be  kept  in  a  moderately  warm  room;  if  exposed  to  a  temi)erature 
below  the  freezing  point  it  will  not  develop  its  evil  features.  The 
only  simple  and  handy  test  that  we  know  of  is  a  good  nose.  A 
good  nose  is  a  most  invaluable  ]:»iece  of  chemical  apparatus,  and 
those  who  spoil  it  with  snuff,  tobacco,  etc.,  do  not  realize  what  they 
lose. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  1 25 

There  is  also  found  in  market  a  very  clean,  fresh  ground  bone 
which  is  made  from  die  bones  after  they  have  served  the  bone 
boiler,  who  subjects  tliem  to  boiUng  under  great  pressure,  and  thus 
extracts  every  particle  of  fat  and  soluble  matter.  Such  bones  fur- 
nish i3hosphate  and  carbonate  of  lime,  and  not  much  else.  Where 
ground  bone  of  this  kind  is  used  the  birds  shoukl  have  a  good  deal 
of  flesli  during  the  winter  months,  when  they  cannot  get  insects 
and  worms. 

Passing  from  the  outside  towards  the  centre  of  the  egg  we  next 
come  to  the  white,  which  is  a  well-known  glairy  liquid,  consisting 
chiefly  of  what  is  called  by  chemists  albumen,  which  is  merely  the 
Latin  for  whikiiess.  To  produce  the  white  of  one  egg  per  day  the 
hen  must  be  fed  with  material  which  can  be  converted  into  that 
substance,  and  this  must  be  furnished  in  a  somewhat  concentrated 
form.  The  question  then  comes  up  :  Where  can  we  find  this  in 
the  cheapest  and  most  available  form  ?  On  referring  to  any  good 
work  on  organic  chemistry  we  will  find  that  the  different  grains, 
etc.,  are  valuable  from  this  point  of  view  in  the  following  order:* 

Decorticated   Cotton   Cake 41 

Linseed   Cake 28 

Beans 26 

Undecorticated   Cotton  Cake 25 

Malt  Dust 23 

Peas 22 

Wheat    Bran - .  14 

Oats 13 

Clover  Hay 12 

Wheat I  r 

Barley 11 

Indian  Corn 10 

Brewer's  Grains,  as  ordinarily  sold 5 


*This  table  diflfers  materially  from  those  gciven  in  most  poultry  books,  but  it 
will  be  found  to  embody  the  most  recent,  and  accurate  conclusions  of  science, 
and  since  I  followed  its  indications  the  results  which  I  have  obtained  have  been 
markedly  improved. 


126  COMMON    SENSE 

On  looking  over  this  table  it  will  be  seen  that  the  foods  ordin- 
arily given  to  hens  are  not  exactly-  those  best  calculated  to  produce 
eggs.  Even  wheat,  which  is  usually  thought  to  be  one  of  the  very- 
best  egg-producing  foods,  is  lower  in  the  scale  tlian  clover,  and  costs- 
much  more.  The  oals  named  in  the  table  are  the  heavy  English 
oats.  Whether  an  average  American  sample  would  give  as  good 
results  we  cannot  say.  Oats  have  never  been  a  favorite  food  with 
us,  except  for  very  young  chickens,  though  in  Great  Britain  they 
are  very  highly  esteemed  for  this  purpose.  Cotton  cake,  when  it 
can  be  had,  is  most  excellent,  and  either  cotton  or  linseed  can  be 
had  in  most  places.  In  my  locality  cotton-seedcake  is  not  known 
in  market,  but  linseed  cake,  reduced  to  meal,  is  common.  Of 
course  these  "  cakes,"  from  which  the  oil  has  been  expressed,  are 
comparatively  poor  in  heat  producing  elements,  when  compared 
with  corn,  wheat,  or  barley.  The  true  way,  of  course,  is  to  mix 
them,  as  we  shall  describe  when  detailing  our  practice. 

Last  of  all,  we  come  to  the  yolk  or  yelk.  'J'his  is  a  rich,  oily 
emulsion,  containing  a  liberal  supply  of  phos[)hates.  It  also  con- 
tains sulphur  in  a  state  in  which  it  is  easily  set  free,  as  is  seen 
by  the  action  of  eggs  on  silver. 

As  is  easily  seen  the  egg  contains  within  itself  all  the  materiid 
necessary  for  the  building  up  of  a .  perfect  bird ;  bones,  flesh, 
feathers,  claws,  and  every  i)art  of  the  complete  animal  is  found  in 
an  undeveloped  condition  in  the  egg. 

Such  being  tlie  theoretical  requirements,  it  was  evident  that  if 
there  was  any  truth  in  the  principles  acce})ted  by  chemists,  I  must 
provide  these  materials  abundantly,  and  of  course,  in  the  cheapest 
manner  consistent  with  the  health  and  vigor,  of  the  fowls. 

For  the  great  staple  food^-that  which  to  fowls  is  the  staff  of 
life— the  various  kinds  of  grain  are  ordinarily  the  most  convenient, 
and,  perhaps,  when  we  take  into  consideration  the  peculiar  digestive 
apparatus  of  tlie  fowl,  such  forms  of  food  are  indispensable. 
Amongst  the  purchased  food,  therefore,  grain  of  some  kind  must 
always  form  a  large  i)art,  and  I  was,  unfortunately,  so  situated  that 
I  could  not  always  take  advantage  of  those  opportunities  which  in 
other   localities   present   themselves   for   getting   damaged   grain, 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  127 

sweepings,  etc.,  at  a  low  rate.  What  is  known  as  "refuse"  grain 
or  screenings,  I  found  to  be  the  poorest  purchase  that  could  be 
made.  But  in  some  localities,  especially  near  great  grain  transport- 
ing centres,  slightly  damaged  grain  can  be  had  at  quite  a  cheap 
rate,  and,  if  it  lias  not  lain  too  long,  and  is  properly  cared  for  when 
received,  it  is  quite  an  economical  article.  It  matters  very  little 
what  the  kind  of  grain  is;  every  kind  of  grain  contains  enough  fat, 
heat  and  force  producing  elements  to  keep  the  fowls  in  good 
health,  and  the  necessary  materials  for  eggs  I  could  readily  find  in 
much  cheaper  and  quite  as  good  a  form. 

And  by  grain  I  mean  whole  grain — not  ground.  Meal,  flour 
and  grain  that  has  been  reduced  almost  to  a  pulp  by  steeping  and 
fermentation,  will  not  answer  as  a  steady  diet  for  fowls.  'J'his,  I 
soon  found  out  for  myself,  by  experience,  but  others  have  dis- 
covered the  same  thing  long  ago.  Ask  any  one  who  is  in  the 
habit  of  fattening  poultry,  and  he  will  tell  you  that  nothing  adds 
to  the  weight  of  fowls  like  cooked  meal,  but  that  if  confined  to  this 
diet  for  more  than  two  or  three  weeks,  the  animals  begin  to  lose 
flesh  as  rapidly  as  they  took  it  on,  and  finally  they  fall  sick. 
When  fowls  are  taken  from  a  wide  range  and  penned  up  for  fatten- 
ing, the  first  effect  is  to  make  the  birds  lose  flesh.  The  cause  of 
this  is  evidently  the  excitement  and  worry  produced  by  the  un- 
usual confinement.  As  soon  as  this  wears  off,  and  the  birds  be- 
come reconciled  to  the  new^  condition  of  things,  they  begin  to  take 
on  fat  rapidly.  And  here  lies  one  great  difference  in  value,  in  dif- 
ferent individuals  and  breeds,  as  regards  fattening.  Some  become 
speedily  quieted  down  and  quietly  take  to  their  food  and  rest. 
They^doze  away  their  time  and  grow  fat.  After  a  while,  however, 
their  digestion  becomes  impaired.  The  soft  food  causes  no  action 
of  the  gizzard,  its  secretions  fail,  and  the  bird  begins  to  lose  flesh. 
It  should  then  be  killed  at  once.  For  ourselves,  however,  we  have 
an  intense  dislike  to  coop-fattened  poultry.  No  bird  that  has  been 
])enned  up  for  weeks  and  fed  on  soft  food  can  equal  in  flavor  the 
flesh  of  (one  whose  juices  have  been  freshened  by  hillside  breezes^  'rt^-/ 
and  the  fresh  seeds,  grasses  and  insects  of  the  roadside  and  copse. 


128  COMMON    SENSE 

And  we  have  never  found  any  difficulty  in  getting  our  birds  fat 
enough  for  our  own  taste  and  that  of  our  friends. 

In  estimating  tlie  actual  value  of  different  kinds  of  grain  for  feed- 
ing purposes,  we  must  remember  that  it  is  weight  only  that  tells. 
One  lumdred  pounds  of  one  kind  of  grain  may  measure  greatly 
more  than  one  hundred  j^ounds  of  another  kind,  and  yet  be  greatly 
inferior  to  it  in  feeding  value.  Thus,  as  an  egg  i)roducer,  loo  lbs. 
of  oats  would  be  better  than  loo  lbs.  of  corn  in  the  proportion  of 
!3  to  ID,  but  a  bushel  of  corn  would  be  more  valuable  than  a 
bushel  of  oats,  because  it  would  weigh  nearly  twice  as  much,  thus 
more  than  making  up  for  the  \^\g^\  peixentage  of  egg-forming  ingre- 
dients contained  in  the  oats.  Indeed,  1  found  that,  taken  as  a 
whole,  corn  was  usually  the  cheapest  grain  in  market,  and  in  buy- 
ing, therefore,  I  confined  myself  chiefly  to  corn.  I  found  that  when 
it  was  supi)lemented  with  other  matters  which  were  not  expensive 
it  was  probably  the  best.  But  corn  alone  did  not  answer  well. 
The  hens  got  fat  and  ceased  laying.  What  I  wanted,  therefore, 
was  phosphates  and  albuminoids;  and  the  best  and  cheapest  source 
of  these,  when  they  had  to  be  i)urchased,  was  flesh  and  bones,  and 
clover.  I  therefore  made  an  arrangement  with  one  or  two  butchers 
for  a  supply  of  bones  and  refuse  meat,  and  continued  to  let  the 
fowls  have  some  of  it  for  "  dessert "  at  least  every  other  day.  The 
small  bones  were  simply  cleaned  of  their  flesh  with  a  knife,  so  far 
as  it  could  be  done  without  too  much  trouble,  and  then  chopped 
with  a  cleaver  into  pieces  that  would  go  in  the  mill.  The  Wilson 
mill  ground  them  rapidly  and  thoroughly,  and  when  offered  to  the 
fowls  it  was  fun  to  see  them  rush  for  the  feast.  The  meat  from  the 
bones,  and  also  other  pieces  of  waste  flesh,  were  passed  through  a 
chopping  mill,  which  cut  them  into  small  pieces,  so  that  a  fowl 
could  not  drag  off  a  large  lot  at  once  and  run  all  round  the  coop 
chased  by  its  companions — each  one  trying  to  steal  a  piece  from 
another.  This  happens  only  when  the  pieces  are  too  large  to  be 
immediately  swallowed.  Nothing  of  the  kind  hai)pened  with  meat 
cut  by  means  of  our  chopper.  The  fowls  swallowed  it  readily,  each 
one  got  its  just  share,  and  all  were  happy. 

Perhaps  the  cheapest  form  of  flesh  that  I  was  able  to  obtain  was 


IN   THE    POULTRY    YARD.  1 29 

young  calves.  In  my  district  the  farmers  carried  on  dairying  to  a 
considerable  extent,  and  as  milk  was  too  valuable  they  did  not  care 
to  raise  any  calves,  except  promising  young  heifers.  And  as  it  was 
a  ciiminal  oftense  to  sell  very  young  calves,  they  were  compelled 
either  to  keep  them  until  they  were  some  weeks  old  or  knock  them 
on  the  head  and  bury  them  in  tlie  manure  heap.  When  it  became 
known  that  I  would  give  from  fifty  cents  to  a  dollar  apiece  for 
them,  at  any  age,  I  had  as  many  as  I  could  use,  and  this  at  a  time 
too  when  they  were  needed — that  is,  just  as  my  spring  chickens 
were  coming  forward.  The  bones  of  these  young  calves  are  easily 
cut  up — indeed,  our  meat  chopper  sufficed  for  much  of  them — and 
an  ordinary  calf  made  two  very  nice  desserts  for  500  birds. 

But  in  addidon  to  these  articles  fowls  need  green  food.  My  lay- 
ing flocks,  which  were  allowed  to  wander  over  a  large  range,  did 
not  suffer  for  want  of  this  in  summer,  but  during  winter  I  found 
it  necessary  to  give  them  a  regular  and  abundant  sup[)ly,  and  at 
first  I  fixed  upon  the  cabbage  as  the  best  vegetable  for  my  purpose. 
At  first  I  did  not  succeed  very  well  in  growing  cabbage,  the  land 
not  being  rich  enough,  and  the  former  owner  not  having  paid  suf- 
ficient attention  to  the  saving  of  manure.  Mrs.  B.  was  so  neat  and 
orderly  that  the  sight  of  a  lawn  coated  with  manure  in  the  spring 
would  have  thrown  her  into  hysterics,  or  some  other  womanly  non- 
sense, and  she  would  gladly  have  allowed  all  the  manure  to  be 
given  away,  merely  to  get  rid  of  the  sight  and  smell  of  it.  As  may 
be  readily  supposed,  therefore,  the  arrangements  for  saving  manure 
were  none  of  the  best.  My  views,  however,  were  very  different. 
Brought  up  in  a  country  where  the  motto  was  "  No  manure,  no 
crops,"  I  looked  upon  the  manure  pile  as  one  of  the  most  import- 
ant things  about  the  })lace,  nnd  to  me  a  grass  field  covered  with  a 
rich  coating  of  manure  was  by  no  menus  an  unsightly  ol)ject,  be- 
cause the  intellectual  beauty  of  the  "eternal  fitness  of  things"  was 
more  agreeal)le  than  the  sight  of  a  plot  of  ground  thinly  occupied 
with  starved  i)lants.  One  of  my  earliest  "jobs,"  therefore,  was  to 
construct  a  good  manure  bed.  This  I  began  by  staking  off  a  j)iece 
of  ground  thirty  feet  by  forty.  The  soil  from  this  plot  was  removed, 
so  that  I  had  a  pit  four  feet  deep  along  one  of  the  40  foot  sides,  and 


130  COiMMON    SENSE 

sloping  up  to  tne  surface  on  tlie  opposite  side.  Along  the  30  foot 
sides  the  ground  was  cut  nearly  perpendicularly — the  angle  being 
only  sufficient  to  keep  tlie  banks  from  caving  in.  The  Avhole  bot- 
tom was  then  puddled,  and  rammed  liard  and  smooth  with  a  ram- 
mer. The  manure  was  thrown  into  this  as  fast  as  taken  from  tlie 
stable  and  cow  house,  and  to  it  was  added  all  such  things  as  old 
nests,  leaves,  etc.,  etc.;  in  sliort,  every  kind  of  material  tliat  is  valu- 
able in  making  manure.  It  was  astonishing  what  a  pile  we  had  ac- 
cumulated by  s[)ring.  The  pit  was  not  only  full,  but  heaped  up 
above  the  general  level,  and  all  except  a  few  inches  on  the  top  was 
thorouglily  rotten  and  fit  for  the  land.  It  may  easily  be  imagined 
that  witli  so  much  purchased  food  of  the  richest  kind  coming  on 
to  the  place  the  land  was  soon  fit  to  grow  anything,  and  after  a 
year  or  two  my  vegetable  crops  were  entirely  satisfactory.  But  for 
the  first  two  or  three  years  I  was  compelled  to  buy  my  cabbage. 
Now,  cabbages  in  that  part  brought  a  very  high  price  though  they 
could  be  grown  very  easily,  and  even  at  very  moderate  figures  were 
about  as  good  a  paying  crop  as  could  be  found.  It  was  here,  as 
everywhere  else,  however — it  cost  a  good  deal  to  sell  them.  I  saw 
this  point,  and  thought  that  perhaps  I  could  make  some  of  my 
neighbors  see  the  point  too.  So  I  approached  one  of  them,  an  in- 
telligent young  farmer  and  asked  him  what  he  would  undertake  to 
let  me  have  3,000  late  cabbages  for  next  season.  He  at  once 
named  eight  cents,  which  was  about  the  figure  t'ley  had  brought  in 
the  market  near  us  last  season,  when  cabbages  were  pretty  dear. 
I  at  once  pointed  this  out  to  him,  and  suggested  that  as  he  ran  no 
risk  of  losing  the  sale,  and  would  lose  no  time  in  peddling  them 
out,  but  would  simply  have  to  grow  them  and  allow  me  to  cart 
them  away  he  ought  to  be  able  to  sell  them  much  cheaper.  But 
he  could  not  see  it;  cabbages  w^ere  worth  so  much  in  market,  had 
been  sold  for  that,  and  he  did  not  see  why  he  should  not  get  the 
market  price.  As  for  my  taking  them  away,  that  did  not  matter 
much  to  him.  There  would  be  but  a  few  loads  anyway,  and  his 
teams  might  as  well  haul  cabbages  as  stand  idle.  Of  course  such 
a  price  placed  them  beyond  my  reach,  and  I  at  once  turned  my 
attention  to  something  else.     But  as  the  previous  year  had  been  an 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  I3I 

exceptionally  good  year  for  selling  cabbages,  and  the  price  was  very 
high,  everybody  planted  a  patch  this  year,  and  several  of  my  neigh- 
bors planted  quite  extensively.  The  result  was  that  the  market  was 
overstocked,  and  I  bought  my  neighbor's  cabbages  atid  had  him 
deliver  them  for  less  than  I  had  offered  him  in  the  spring,  $35  per 
1,000.  When  he  drew  the  last  load  and  got  his  i)ay  for  them,  he 
remarked  that  he  was  done  with  cabbage  growing;  would  never 
grow  another  one  except  for  his  own  use.  I  then  asked  him  what 
he  would  grow  me  the  same  quantity  for  next  year,  I  to  take  them 
away  as  wanted  }  He  said  he  would  think  the  matter  over  and  let 
me  know.  In  a  few  days  he  came  to  me  and  offered  to  grow  3,000 
heads  for  the  same  price  that  I  had  offered  him  the  year  before — 
$42  per  1,000.  I  closed  with  him  on  the  understanding  that  all 
the  heads  were  to  be  good  saleable  heads,  any  poor  ones  to  count 
at  the  rate  of  two  for  one.  This  gave  me  a  head  of  cabbage  for 
every  bird  I  raised  that  year,  and  I  found  it  none  too  much.  But 
this  is  anticipating. 

Meantime  I  had  determined  that  if  I  could  not  grow  cabbages 
I  would  grow  something  else,  and  I  fixed  upon  clover.  Experience 
had  shown  me  that  this  plant  formed  one  of  the  very  best  foods  for 
fowls,  and  as  it  could  be  made  to  produce  a  very  heavy  crop  per 
acre  I  believed  it  to  be  one  of  the  most  profitable.  Thirty -five 
bushels  of  corn,  which,  at  58  lbs.  to  the  bushel,  would  give  2,000 
lbs.,  may  be  considered  a  fair  yield  for  an  acre.  I  have  raised  four 
times  this  amount  of  dry  clover  from  an  acre,  and  the  percentage 
of  egg  forming  elements  in  the  clover  is  greater  than  that  of  those 
in  the  corn. 

I  therefore  resolved  to  raise  clover  as  an  tgg  producing  food  and 
as  green  food.  There  were  some  other  i)lants  that  suggested 
themselves,  but  as  clover  and  I  were  old  friends,  and  as  I  saw 
several  vigorous  plants  growing  on  the  place,  I  felt  sure  that  I 
could  grow  clover,  and  I  did  not  care  to  try  any  '''  side "  ex- 
l)eriments  at  this  stage  of  my  venture.  I  had  neither  the  time,  the 
money,  nor  the  inclination. 

,  The  reader  may,  perhaps,  have  noticed  that  in  speaking  of  my 
manure  pile,  I  said  nothing  of  the  hen  manure — by  far  the  most 


1^2  COMMON    SENSE 

important  article  on  the  plac-^.  In  order  to  fully  explain  my  plans 
and  the  reasons  for  tliis  admission  it  will  be  necessary  to  digress  a 
litde 

It  is  a  well  known  fiict,  tliat  many  of  the  })arasites  and  diseases 
whicli  afflict  man  and  the  lower  animals,  are  propagated  and  dis- 
seminated chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  through  their  excrements,  and  in 
many  cases  the  i)arasite  adheres  to  the  vegetable  which  forms  the 
food  of  the  aninicil,  and  is  swallowed  with  it.  A  curious  instance 
of  this  is  the  fluke,  which  is  so  fatal  to  sheep  that  are  fed  on  marshy 
ground.  The  fluke  is  a  parasite  whose  history  we  niay  trace  from 
the  time  when  it  makes  its  home  in  the  snail;  the  snail  crawls  out 
on  the  damp  grass  and  is  swallowed  by  the  slieep.  In  the  body 
of  the  sheep,  the  parasite  matures,  forms  its  eggs  and  discharges 
them — a  single  fluke  originating  as  mnny  as  40,000  eggs.  These 
eggs  are  carried  by  winds,  rains,  the  hoofs  of  animals  and  other 
means  into  ponds,  ditches,  etc.,  where  each  one  develops  into 
a  free-swimming  embryo,  that,  after  some  changes,  passes  into 
the  body  of  a  snail,  there  to  pass  through  further  changes,  and 
again  take  up  its  journey  through  the  circuit  of  its  existence. 
From  this  it  is  obvious  that  a  single  "rotten"  sheep — tliat  is,  one 
afflicted  witli  flukes — is  callable  of  infecting  an  entire  field,  and  of 
carrying  disease  and  death  into  a  large  flock.  The  same  is  ti'ue  of 
a  diseased  chicken.  In  the  chicken  the  "gapes"  ai-e  known  to  be 
caused  by  a  parasite.  The  eggs  of  this  ]-)arasite,  jiassing  through 
the  cliicken  fall  on  the  ground  and  are  picked  up  by  other 
chickens  when  they  are  taking  their  food  or  swallowing  gravel. 
The  same  is  the  case  in  regard  to  true  chicken  cholera.  This  dis- 
ease is  caused  by  minute  organisms  whicli  infect  the  intestinal 
canal  of  the  chicken,  and  which  are  voided  in  millions  in  the  excre- 
ments of  birds  so  afflicted.  It  is  easily  seen  that  any  other 
chickens  feeding  on  such  soiled  ground,  or  eating  the  green  plants 
grown  thereon,  will  become  infected  in  the  sau^e  way.  And,  yet, 
one  writer  actually  tells  us  that  chickens  should  be  made  to 
scratch  over  their  own  excrements  and  pick  out  the  gravel  con- 
tained therein,  so  as  to  save  the  trouble  and  expense  of  providing 
fresh  gravel ! ! 


IN    THE    POULTRY   YARD.  I33 

In  all  my  chicken  raising,  disease  has  been  my  great  dread,  and 
perhaps  it  has  been  on  account  of  my  dread  of  it,  that  I  have  suc- 
ceeded so  well  in  avoidmg  it.  With  me  the  "  ounce  of  preven- 
tion "  lias  been  always  greatly  preferred  to  the  "pound  of  cure."  I 
believe  that,  for  man,  it  is  exceedingly  dangerous  to  eat  raw  vege- 
tables that  have  been  raised  on  ground  manured  with  night  soil,  or 
sewage,  or  even  the  excrements  of  pigs,  and  it  is  my  belief  that 
many  obscure  cases  of  disease  in  our  large  cities  arise  in  this  way. 
And  if  possible,  I  would  never  allow  any  animal  to  feed  directly  off 
ground  that  had  been  manured  with  the  excrements  of  others  of 
of  its  kind. 

Especially  is  this  true  of  chickens.  The  proper  crops  to  grow 
on  ground  that  has  been  manured  with  niglit  soil  or  sewage  are 
the  cereals — wheat,  barley,  oats,  rye,  etc.  Lettuce,  cabbage,  tur- 
nips, etc.,  should  never  be  grown  on  such  ground. 

The  reader  will  now  appreciate  my  reason  for  keeping  all  the 
chicken  manure  by  itself.  To  utilize  it  I  determined  to  grow  corn, 
while  my  stable  manure  I  applied  to  the  clover  crop.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  while  these  minute  but  destructive  parasites  might  readily 
adhere  to  the  moist  and  succulent  clover,  or  even  to  the  foilage  of 
corn  grown  for  soiling  purposes,  they  could  hardly  reach  the  ker- 
nels of  the  corn.  The  washing  rains  of  spring,  the  scorching 
suns  of  summer  nnd  the  drying  winds  of  autumn,  would  give  them 
but  a  slight  chance  compared  to  that  which  they  would  have  on 
the  moist  clover,  always  moist  from  its  proximity  to  the  ground. 

And,  here  came  in  one  great  advantage  of  the  portable  fence. 
I  could  })low  up  a  corn  patch  of  any  size  and  allow  the  chickens 
to  revel  amongst  worms  and  grubs  to  their  heart's  content.  Then 
it  could  be  fenced  in,  planted  to  corn  and  cultivated  until  the  corn 
was  high  enougli  to  admit  broods  of  small  chickens  which  were 
easily  colonized  in  it.  As  soon  as  the  corn  was  harvested,  the 
fence  was  removed,  and  the  hens  allowed  to  pick  up  all  that  was 
left  and  rummage  the  whole  patch  for  bugs  and  worms. 

There  is  no  manure,  that  I  know  of,  that  will  ])roduce  a  better 
crop  of  corn  than  will  hen  manure.  We  always  had  plenty  of  it, 
and  we  tried  to  put  in  as  nmch  corn  as  possible,  for  in  addition  to 


134  COMMON    SENSE 

the  grain  for  our  fowls,  we  had  the  stalks  for  the  cow,  and  the  cobs 
for  kuidling — a  most  useful  article  in  our  position,  and  there  is  no 
better  kindling  than  dry  corn  cobs. 

My  experience  with  the  :)rtificial  foods,  or  so-called  "egg-foods," 
has  been  so  limited  tlint  I  have  little  information  concerning  them 
to  give  the  reader.  At  one  time  I  tried  25  lbs.  of  an  egg  food 
that  is  extensively  advertised  and  highly  recommended,  but  the  re- 
sults did  not  warrant  me  in  repeating  the  experiment.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mmd,  liowever,  tliat  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  deter- 
mine questions  of  this  kind.  The  individual  characteristics  of  the 
members  of  any  flock  may  have  quite  as  much  to  do  with  egg  pro- 
duction as  has  the  food  given  to  them,  and  there  are  so  many  other 
conditions  which  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  at  all  times  to  observe 
or  to  control,  that  the  results  must  always  be  somewhat  uncertain. 
The  experiment  in  my  hands  was  not  carried  out  with  that  atten- 
tion to  details  that  would  preclude  all  error.  The  way  I  did  it  Avas 
this:  I  selected  two  cooi)S  and  yards  of  exactly  the  same  size  and 
similar  location.  I  then  chose  fourteen  hens  as  nearly  alike  in 
age,  size,  breed  and  general  appearance  as  possible.  This  flock 
was  then  divided  into  two  lots  of  seven  each,  the  best  hens  being 
drafted  alternately  for  each  coop,  just  as  boys  used  to  be  drafted 
under  their  several  captains  for  some  contest.  The  best  went  into 
coop  A;  second  best  to  coop  B;  third  best  to  A;  fourth  best  to 
B,  and  so  on  until  all  were  drafted.  These  two  lots  were  then  fed 
and  treated  in  all  respects  as  nearly  alike  as  possible,  except  that 
one  lot  was  fed  with  egg  food,  and  the  other  had  what  was  sup- 
posed to  be  an  equivalent  in  wheat  bran.  The  experiment  was  con- 
tinued until  25  lbs.,  of  the  food  had  been  used.  At  first  the  fowls 
that  had  the  egg  food  produced  considerably  more  eggs  than  the 
others,  but  after  a  time  they  fell  behind,  and  at  the  end  of  the  ex- 
periment the  two  flocks  were  very  nearly  even. 

The  conclusion  that  I  reached  was  that  "  egg-food  "  consists  chiefly 
of  stimulants,  and  that  the  use  of  these,  beyond  a  very  limited  extent 
at  the  beginning  of  the  season,  is  an  injury  rather  than  a  benefit  to 
the  hens.  The  high  price  of  most  of  the  "foods"  in  market 
precludes  their  use  ^.s/ood,  while  for  a  stimulant  we   have  never 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  135 

found  aiiytiiiiig  l)etter  than  a  little  red  pepper.  Even  this,  however, 
we  used  sparingly  with  our  laying  flock,  and  still  more  so  with  our 
breeders ;  warmth,  both  in  the  way  of  food  and  housing,  together 
with  good  nourishing  food,  are  the  best  stimulants,  and  if  the  breed 
of  fowls  is  right,  they  will,  under  such  conditions,  satisfy  any  reason- 
able person. 

The  water  used  on  the  place  w;is  of  the  very  best  quality — clenr, 
cold,  spring  water,  with  just  enough  mineral  matter  in  it  to  remove 
the  bad  effects  of  rain  or  snow.  It  came,  of  course,  from  the 
spring  which  I  have  already  described,  and  as  a  general  rule  the 
fowls  got  nothing  but  this  water  to  drink,  but  when  confined  in 
very  small  cooi)S  an(i  yards  I  used  the  famous  Douglas  mixture 
with  great  satisfaction.     This  consists  of 

Sulphate  of  hon i  lb. 

Sulphuric  acid 2  oz. 

Water 4  gallons. 

The  sulphate  of  iron  was  dissolved  in  the  water,  the  sulphuric  acid 
added,  and  the  liquid  put  up  in  quart  bottles  kept  tightly  corked.* 
A  teaspoonful  of  this  mixture  to  a  pint  of  good  water  seemed  to 
have  a  most  excellent  effect. 

I  found,  however,  that  by  lessening  the  sulphuric  acid  to  one 
ounce,  and  adding  two  pounds  of  soluble  phosphate  of  lime,  I  got 
a  mixture  that  was  far  superior.  The  phosphates  that  I  used  were 
those  sold  by  the  Rumford  Chemical  Works,  of  Providence,  R.  I., 
and  being  intended  for  consumption  by  human  beings,  were  no 
doubt  more  expensive  than  was  necessary,  I  presume,  however, 
that  if  a  demand  should  arise  for  this  compound,  the  firm  named 
could  furnish  it  at  a  price  which  would  render  its  use  profitable. 

One  of  our  great  difliculties  in  feeding  was  the  distribution  of  the 

*  Sulphate  of  iron,  when  exposed  to  the  air.  isajit  to  al)Sorb  oxvy:<'n  and  prob- 
ably ammonia.  The  iron,  whicli  is  the  really  valiiabh^  i)art.  then  becomes  in- 
sohible,  and  is  not  taken  up  by  the  fowls,  but'adlieres  to  the  sides  of  (he  vessel. 
Hence,  the  reason  for  keepinjr  it  in  small  i)ackay:es  securely  corked.  Tlu'  use 
of  the  sulphuric  acid  is  simply  to  kee])  the  iron  in  solution.*  If  the  iron  rust  be 
mixed  with  scalded  bran,  meal,  potatoes,  etc.,  it  will  be  eaten  and  will  do  the 
birds  good.  Too  much  ot  it  is  injurious,  but  a  teaspoonful  of  red  iron  rust  iu 
the  food  of  six  large  or  ten  small  fowls  once  or  twice  a  week  is  very  good. 


136  COMMON    SENSE 

food  ;  some  hens  would  get  more  tlian  their  share,  others  would  get 
less.  I  was  astonished  to  see  the  difference  between  fowls  in  this 
res[)ect.  Take  any  two  dozen  fowls,  throw  down  a  pint  of  corn, 
and  after  it  has  disappeared  examine  the  croi)s  of  the  birds  and  you 
will  find  that  half  of  it  has  been  picked  up  by  half  a  dozen  fowls — 
the  remaining  half  being  divided  amongst  the  other  eighteen.  Still 
'worse  is  this  in  cases  where  the  birds  are  called  off  the  perch  by 
throwing  down  food.  Some  wide  awake,  early  risers  will  get  all 
they  can  eat,  while  others  will  remain  on  the  perch  and  get  nothing, 
or  they  will  come  down  in  such  sleepy  fashion  that  breakfast  is  over 
before  they  are  ready. 

After  a  good  deal  of  observation  I  found  that  the  more  widely  the 
food  was  scattered  the  better  was  the  chanc  e  of  eacli  individual 
bird.  I  therefore  arranged  it  so  that  \\  hen  grain  was  fed-it  was 
sown  broadcast  over  a  consi(lcrai)le  spac",  and  when  the  food  was 
soft  it  was  [)laced  in  a  great  many  small  dishes  or  troughs,  so  that 
weak  birds  were  never  in  danger  of  being  crowded  away  by  the 
stronger  ones. 

It  is  very  evident  that  if  there  were  no  objection  to  giving  every 
bird  ^// that  it  would  eat,  the  matter  could  be  arranged  very  sim- 
ply. All  that  we  would  have  to  do  would  be  to  keep  food  con- 
stantly accessible  to  the  fowls  in  well-i)rotected  feed  boxes  and  the 
work  would  be  done.  And  this,  indeed,  is  the  method  adopted  by 
many.  One  book  on  jioultry,  now  before  me,  has  page  after  page 
devoted  to  the  description  of  self-acting  feeding  hoppers,  and  dozens 
of  amateurs  that  we  have  met  have  pointed  with  i)ride  to  feed  boxes 
of  marvellous  ingenuity  and  utter  worthlessness — "  made  with  thei; 
own  liands,"  and  supposed  to  be  a  convincing  proof  of  their  titl^ 
to  the  honor  of  being  considered  skilful  poultry  keepers.  Observ 
ant  poultrymen  have  long  since  found  out  that  hens  may  be  alto- 
gether too  fat  to  lay;  that  they  must  be  kept  on  such  a  scale  of 
diet  as  will  maintain  them  in  constant  activity — always  ready  for 
more,  like  Oliver  Twist.  In  fact,  one  of  the  secrets  of  successful 
poultry  keeping  consists  in  striking  this  golden  mean  between  ex- 
cessive fatness  and  starvation.  A  very  excellent  system,  one  which 
has  been  in  vogue  for  many  years,  though  frequently  described  by 


IN   THE   POULTRY   YARD.  I37 

recent  writers,  and  of.en  claimed  as  original  by  them,  is  to  mix  the 
grain  with  cut  straw,  leaves,  or  other  light  rubbish,  and  make  the 
hens  "scrntch  for  their  living."  It  is  a  most  excellent  plan,  but 
requires  special  arrangements  to  make  it  succeed  in  practice.  All 
such  scratching  grounds  must  be  [):'otected  fiom  rain,  snow,  etc., 
and  must  be  separate  from  the  dusting  b^itlis.  My  feeding  grounds 
were  simply  sheds,  cheaply  conslrucled  of  stout  poles  and  thatched 
with  eveigieen  bougiis,  obtained  in  thinning  the  belt  of  evergreens 
which  protected  our  northein  boundar}'.  If  i)iopfrl\'  laid,  such  a 
roof  is  almost  perfectly  rain-])roof,  and  the  birds  can  always  find 
plenty  of  room.  In  summer,  therefore,  we  relied  ui)on  these  feed- 
ing places,  of  which  there  was  one  to  every  100  hens.  In  locating 
them  we  chose  the  most  barren  and  driest  places  we  could  find, 
made  them  a  good  size,  and  liberally  strewed  them  with  chaff,  pine 
shatters,  leaves,  etc.  The  food  strewed  on  these  places  was  gener- 
ally cracked  corn  or  whole  wheat;  anything  of  a  smaller  or  darker 
grain  was  a[)t  to  be  lost,  while  whole  corn  was  too  easily  found, 
and  at  any  rate  1  did  not  feed  much  whole  corn,  except  on 
winter  evenings  and  very  cold  days. 

The  feeding  sheds  were  i)laced  so  as  to  face  south-south-east, 
so  that  they  always  caught  the  early  morning  rays,  and  by 
afternoon  they  were  partly  in  shade.  The  early  rising  hens 
always  made  for  these  places  the  very  first  thing,  as  ^oon  as  they 
had  ti^eir  liberty,  Init  we  found  that  this  would  not  do;  these  early 
riseis  would  clean  the  whole  food  out  before  the  others  got  a 
chance.  All  the  hens,  therefore,  were  kept  in  their  own  yards, 
until  the  entire  flock  had  come  off  the  roosts,  and  to  expedite  this, 
a  little  grain  was  scattered  on  the  giound  and  the  birds  called  to 
it.  As  soon  as  all  were  down  the  gates  were  opened,  and  those 
that  uanted  further  feed  scampered  off  to  the  .sheds.  They 
lay  about  these  sheds  and  scratched,  went  to  the  dust-baths,  rum- 
maged the  leaves  tor  insects  and  wandered  about  freely  until  evening, 
when  they  were  again  fed  all  the  grain  they  wouki  eat.  This  was 
our  usual  sunnner  routine,  and  it  was  very  larely  that  they  did  not 
return  to  their  proper  houses  to  lay.  In  addition  to  the  nests  in 
the  houses,  we  had  special  boxes  scattered  over  the  grounds  for 


138  COMMON    SENSE 

their  convenience,  but  we  did  not  get  many  eggs  in  them.     Ninety 
per  cent,  of  the  eggs  were  laid  in  the  houses. 

In  winter  the  programme  was,  of  course,  considerably  varied. 
Wlien  the  snow  was  deep  many  of  the  sheds  were  inaccessible,  but 
when  the  ground  was  clear  they  were  all  frequented  during  the 
day.  Instead  of  sending  the  hens  off  hungry  to  their  feeding 
grounds,  however,  I  gave  them  soft  feed,  well  cooked,  and  consist- 
ing of  corn  mea],  bran,  ground  oats  and  rye,  flesh,  bone  dust, 
finely  powdered  oyster  shells,  etc.  Of  course  the  proportion  of  the 
latter  ingredients  Avas  small.  A  little  salt,  and  sometimes  a  httle 
red  pepper  were  also  mixed  with  the  food.  This  was  made  into  a 
very  stiff  paste,  being,  in  fact,  worked  like  baker's  dough,  and  was 
then  placed  in  troughs,  which  were  made  in  very  simple  fashion 


Fig.  11. 

by  nailing  two  narrow  boards  together  along  the  edges,  and  closing 
the  ends  by  means  of  two  square  i)ieces,  as  shown  in  the  engraving. 
Fig.  II.  In  order  to  prevent  the  birds  from  getting  their  feet  into 
these  troughs  and  defihng  the  food,  I  nailed  a  strip  across  the  top  as 
shown  in  the  figure.  It  answered  the  purpose  admirably.  All  our 
birds,  without  exception,  would  rush  for  these  troughs,  so  that  even 
the  slowest  feeders  got  their  share.  They  then  went  to  scratching  m 
the  feeding  sheds  of  their  yards,  and  in  tliis  way  got  plenty  of  exercise. 
When  the  snow  was  on  the  ground,  and  no  green  food  was  to  be 
had,  we  hung  cabbages  all  around  the  sheds  and  let  them  ])eck 
away  at  them.  We  also  mixed  some  very  finely  cut  dried  clover 
with  their  feed.  By  passing  it  through  a  feed  cutter  and  also 
through  a  mill,  we  got  it  down  almost  to  a  powder. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  139 


£a[i  Brooba. 


N  many  departments  of  agriculture,  it  is  a  good  rule  to 
find  out  what  others  are  doing,  and  then  do  the  oppo- 
site. If  everybody  is  planting  potatoes,  then  plant  no 
more  than  you  need  for  your  own  use;  if  nobody  is  setting  out 
cabbages,  set  out  all  you  can.  Now  the  grent  bulk  of  the  chicke:is 
that  are  raised  in  this  couiUiy  are  hatched  in  JNIay  and  early 
June;  too  late  to  bring  the  highest  pric^e  for  spring  chickens,  and 
yet  so  early  that  by  next  season  they  will  have  eaten  more  than 
they  are  worth. 

While  sitting  in  the  shade  of  our  ])oich  one  afternoon,  I  re- 
called an  experience  which  I  had  had  a  few  years  previously. 
We,  at  that  time,  occupied  a  beautiful  place  of  about  3^  acres, 
and  kept  a  number  of  hens.  Of  course  we  did  as  others  did, 
and  every  spring  we  rased  enough  chickens  to  supply  oui-  table 
during  fall  and  winter,  and  to  finiiish  pullets  for  next  year.  .  One 
day,  late  in  September,  one  of  our  hens  came  into  the  barn  yard 
leading  fifteen  beautiful  chicks.  She  had  stolen  her  nest  and 
hatched  this  brood,  and  as  she  led  them  up  to  where  we  stood 
she  seemed  to  say,  as  plainly  as  if  she  had  spoken  in  good  English, 
"Is  not  that  something  to  be  proud  of?"  Well,!  thought  it 
was.  So  I  (ad  the  little  flock,  give  them  a  nice  warm  berth  in  the 
stable,  and  made  every  provision  to  bring  them  U[).  Several 
friends  who  called  to  see  us,  and  who  professed  to  be  well -versed 
in  chicken  lore,  advised  me  to  kill  tliem  at  once.  They  never 
could  amount  to  anything,  they  said;  the  cold  weather  would 
come  before  they  were  fledged,  they  would  probably  die,  and  it 
they  should  survive,  they  would  only  be  scrubs;  therefore  better  kill 
them  now  and  be  done  with  it. 

KiUing  animals  in  cold  blood,  merely  for  the  sake  of  getting 
rid  of  them,  is  not  my  forte.     I  have  killed  a  good  many  animals 


140  COMMON    SENSE 

in  my  time,  but  to  deliberately  kill  a  nice  little  flock  of  chickens, 
and  throw  them  in  the  manure  heap  was  a  kind  of  killing  rather  dif- 
ferent from  anything,  I  had  ever  done  before.  So  I  let  them  live; 
their  food,  poor  little  things,  did  not  amount  to  much,  and  for  the 
present,  at  least,  they  seemed  supremely  happy.  They  grew 
ai)ace;  \vhen  the  cold  r/eather  came,  the  mother  abandoned  them, 
but  we  stretched  an  old  blanket  on  a  frame  which  supported  it 
about  three  inches  from  the  floor,  and  they  crept  under  this  and 
ke])t  warm.  We  gave  them  specially  rich  food  and  all  the  tid-bits 
from  the  table,  but  the  older  chickens  robbed  them,  so  I  made 
a  coop  with  a  hole  through  which  they  could  easily  pass,  while  the 
older  ones  could  not,  and  we  placed  the  food  under  that  and 
they  could  eat  whenever  they  wanted  to.  We  lost  five  by  various 
accidents,  but  when  I  went  to  the  stable  on  Christmas  morning  to 
give  my  animals  a  Christmas  greeting  and  a  Christmas  breakfast, 
there  were  ten  as  fine  young  birds  as  I  ever  saw — four  cockerels 
and  six  pullets.  They  throve  well  in  spite  of  the  cold  weather, 
and  in  March  the  pullets  began  to  lay,  and  kept  on  laying  when 
eggs  began  to  grow  scarce  and  other  birds  ceased.  The  cockerels 
were  plump  and  delicate — far  different  from  the  previous  spring 
birds,  which  had  now  become  somewhat  rank  and  tough.  At  this 
time  common  poultry  was  selling  for  20  cents  per  lb. — 30  per  cent, 
higher  than  it  had  brought  in  the  fall^but  for  these  birds  we 
could  have  got  more.  And  so  I  concluded  that  the  best  paying 
brood  on  the  place — that  which  had  given  least  trouble  and  had 
brought  most  profit — was  the  brood  that  came  from  the  stolen  nest. 

Now,  I  had  noticed  that  several  hens  in  the  different  houses 
wanted  to  sit,  so  I  decided  to  hatch  out  three  or  four  hundred 
young-  chickens  this  fall  and  see  whether  or  not  the  operation 
would  be  a  profitable  one. 

1  therefore  filled  out  my  former  hatching  room  with  hatching 
boxes,  similiar  to  those  i)reviously  described,  and  gradually  filled 
them  up  witli  hens.  I  managed  to  place  in  it  twelve  boxes,  hold- 
ing forty  eight  hens.  In  expectation  of  the  young  broods,  I  had 
a  lot  more  of  the  brooding  coops  made  so  that  I  could  care  for  the 
chicks  under  anv  circustances. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  I4I 

As  I  liad  taken  great  pains  with  my  breeding  pens,  and  the 
weather  had  been  quite  favorable,  the  hatclies  were,  what  I  cnlied, 
very  good.  They  averaged  nearly  ten  to  each  hen,  giving  me  473 
chicks.  These  I  divided  amongst  thirty  seven  hens,  giving  an 
average  of  thirteen  chicks  to  each. 

Our  system  of  carir.g  fjr  the  chicks  was  as  follows:  The  date  of 
setting  and  the  date  when  due  being  clearly  marked  on  a  card 
tacked  to  each  nest,  there  was  no  room  for  mistakes.  When  a 
hen  was  due  she  was  not  removed  from  tiie  nest  for  food,  but  was 
allowed  to  sit  until  she  came  off  of  her  own  accord.  I  allow^ed 
very  little  meddling — tiie  only  thing  that  was  permitted  being  the 
removal  of  the  empty  shells.  Young  chickens  need  no  attention 
for  twenty-four  hours  after  they  leave  the  shell,  and  if  left  forty- 
eight  hours  they  will  not  suffer.  This  is  no  doubt  a  wise  [)rovis- 
ion  of  nature,  whereby  the  birds  that  do  not  come  out  as  soon  as 
the  others  are  not  left  to  be  chilled.  When  the  hen  led  the  young 
brood  off,  they  weve  fed  with  cracked  corn,*  from  which  all  meal 
and  dust  had  been  carefully  sifted.  An  hour  or  so  after  this  they 
had  all  the  chopi)ed  meat  they  could  eat  with  plenty  of  clear 
water.  At  diis  time  we  unforiunatcly  had  no  milk,  and  could  not 
get  any  conveniently.  'I'his  v.-as  a  mistake,  as  I  soon  found,  and 
ever  afteiwards  I  contrived  to  have  plenty  of  milk  on  hand  when 
I  expected  to  hatch  out  many  broods.  But  on  water,  corn, 
meat  and  bones  they  thro.e  very  well.  When  set  on  the  grass, 
they  could  pick  plenty  of  green  stuff,  and  by  the  time  the 
weather  got  too  cold,  they  were  able  to  peck  at  a  cabbage  with 
gootl  effect. 

A  favorite  morning  food  was  made  byscaldin  >;  horse  feed,  allow- 
ing it  to  stand  until  sUff,  and  working  it  into  stiff  dough  with  more 
dry  feed.  This  they  ate  greedily,  and  throve  w^ell  on  it.  T  found 
that  by  keeping  the  hens  from  wandering  about  and  leading  the 
chickens  with    them,  the    latter    got    along    much    better.     Meat 


♦  Most  writers  advise  nofl  food  for  the  first  meal.  I  liave  foiuid  tliat  we  have 
better  success  wlien  we  use  a  hard  food.  Tlie  yonnir  cliickens  naturally  do  not 
find  soft  food;  they  need  soniethinir  hard  and  solid  to  excite  the  ixizzard  to 
action,  and  after  that  ;;ive  them  the  richest  and  most  nutritious  food  possible. 


142  COMMON    SENSE 

scraps  well  chopped  up  seemed  to  be  quite  as  good  as  insects. 
We  also  gave  them  liberally  of  fresh  ground  bones,  which  we  pre- 
pared ourselves  in  one  of  the  Wilson  mills.  This  was  before  these 
manufacturers  had  brought  out  their  small  mill  for  grinding  fresh 
bones;  but  by  cooking  the  bones  thoroughly  they  were  easily 
scraped  clean  and  ground  up,  and  the  soup  was  mixed  scalding 
hot  with  feed  into  a  stiff  dough  which  was  fed  to  old  and  young. 

Before  very  cold  weather  came  these  chickens  were  well 
feathered  and  quite  large.  I  found  occasional  customers,  at  good 
prices,  for  a  pair  of  cockerels  for  some  invalid,  and  though  this 
was  an  uncertain  market,  yet  I  was  surprised  at  the  number  that 
I  sold  in  this  way.  When  spring  came  I  went  to  a  noted  res- 
taurant in  a  neighboring  city  and  induced  the  proprietor  to  put 
up  a  sign : 

"  Fall  Reared  Chickens — Tender  and  Delicious," 

and  in  a  few  weeks  they  were  all  gone. 

I  kept  the  pullets  by  themselves  until  the  end  of  February. 
With  an  unusual  degree  of  forgetful n ess,  I  had  neglected  to  pre- 
pare two  yards  for  them  in  the  fall  when  the  ground  was  soft,  so 
there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  keep  them  in  a  loft  during  the  very 
cold  months.  I  had  187  of  them,  and  they  were  rather  a  mixed 
lot,  as  I  had  taken  the  eggs  just  as  they  came  from  the  breeding 
pens  without  much  care  in  selecting  them.  But  early  in  March 
some  of  them  began  to  lay,  and  I  saw  that  it  was  necessary  to  get 
them  into  regular  houses  and  yards  with  proper  sheds,  etc.  I 
therefore  had  two  more  of  our  regular  houses  put  up.  I  had 
plenty  of  fence  panels,  but  I  could  not  drive  stakes  as  the  frost 
was  not  yet  out  of  the  ground.  So  I  tied  the  panels  together,  and 
put  them  up  zig-zag  fashion,  like  an  old  Virginia  rail  fence.  I 
found  that  they  stood  quite  firmly,  and  answe-ed  every  purpose  for 
a  temporary  expedient.  I  then  divided  the  pullets  into  two  lots, 
and  put  one  in  each  house,  and  fed  for  eggs.  During  the  next 
month  or  so  they  did  not  do  any  better  than  the  other  hens,  if  as 
well.     But  after  that  time  they  went  on  increasing,  and  when  eggs 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  143 

began  to  grow  scarce,  these   two  pens  supplied   us  with   twice   as 
many  as  any  other  pens  contain-'ng  tlie  same  number  of  birds. 

I  was  tlierefore  very  well  satisfied  with  my  experiment,  and 
every  year  since  that  time  I  have  always  raised  a  large  number  ol 
fall  chickens.  I  now  keep  them  in  a  large  house  until  the  price  ot 
the  old  fowls  goes  up.  I  then  sell  the  latter,  and  replace  them 
with  the  young  pullets. 


144  COMMON    SENSE 


ODnr  i^irst  tD  inter. 

N  northern  climates  it  is  tlie  wintering  of  his  stock  tliat 
tests  tlie  ability  of  the  stock  raiser,  and  decides  his 
[)rofits,  and  this  whether  it  be  cattle  or  poultry.  A  few 
dozen  hens  can  easily  be  kept  in  a  lean-to  shed  next  the  cow 
stable  or  barn,  and  they  may  be  kept  warm  and  well  fed  and 
j)rove  a  success.  Every  slied  on  tlie  premises  will  be  frequented 
by  the  birds,  which  will  thus  find  plenty  of  shelter  and  dry  spots 
without  any  necessity  for  the  owner  putting  up  sj^ecial  buildings, 
but,  when  the  number  of  fowls  is  large,  these  resources  fail,  and 
tlie  usual  results  of  crowtling  and  discomfort  make  their  ap- 
pearance. I  had  had  a  very  uni)leasant  experience  in  regard  to 
this  matter  at  one  time,  wlien,  after  raising  two  or  three  hundred 
chickens,  I  attempted  to  winter  them,  witliout  provieling  the 
necessary  shed  room.  I  had,  therefore,  been  careful  to  attach 
large  commodious  slieds  to  all  my  houses,  and  to  make  the  access 
to  these  sheds  so  convenient  that  the  fowls  would  have  no  snow 
and  sleet  to  pass  over  in  order  to  get  to  the  feeding  grounds  and 
dusting  baths  beneath  them.  I  also  allowed  the  large  temporary 
shed  to  remain,  as  I  knew  that  it  would  be  a  great  boon  to  the 
young  chickens  until  they  were  i)ropeily  dis[)osed  of. 

The  nights  had  now  began  to  get  chilly,  and  frosts  had  come 
with  the  October  days.  Our  kftest  broods  were  too  delicate  to 
stand  the  chill  autumn  night  air,  though  on  bright  days  they  en- 
joyed basking  in  the  sun.  We  still  kept  many  of  them  in  the  wire- 
covered  bro<Kling  coops,  but  to  the  older  ones  we  had  given  the 
liberty  of  the  [)lace.  I  provided  very  warm  comfortable  i)laces  for 
them  to  nest  at  night,  although  most  of  these  were  rather  of  a 
make-shift  character.  My  standard  coop  for  this  pur|)ose,  how- 
ever, one  that  I  could  obtain  easily  in  any  quantity,  consisted  simply 
of  one  of  the  cheap  barrels  used  for  packing  apples,  etc.     This  was 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  I45 

laid  on  its  side  and  steadied  with  stones  or  blocks  on  each  side, 
and  the  open  end  was  covered  to  within  four  inches  of  the  ground 
with  a  curtain  made  of  the  malting  that  comes  round  tea-chests. 
This  matting  can  be  had  for  almost  nothing  at  the  tea  stores,  and 
three  thicknesses  of  it  make  a  screen  that  is  im[)er\ious  to  wind,  rain 
and  snow.  These  ban  el  coops  were  i)laced  in  different  spots  about 
the  grounds,  but  always  where  the  shelter  was  good.  On  wee  and 
cold  days  the  little  flocks  used  to  stay  in  them  a  large  part  of  the  time. 
Food  and  water  were  placed  near  them,  and  with  the  number  that 
I  now  had,  it  was  not  very  difficult  to  attend  to  tliem.  On  briglit 
sunny  days  it  was  no  trouble  at  all.  On  rainy  days  it  was  rather 
an  uncomfortable  job.  I  had  heavy  rubber  boots  and  a  rubber 
coat,  and  I  i)rovi(led  similar  garments  for  Margaret,  so  that  she 
could  always  keep  dry,  and  we  managed  to  get  along,  but  I  saw 
that  if  my  experiment  of  fall  broods  ]:)roved  a  success,  I  would  have 
to  erect  a  cheap  board  house  with  green-house  sasli  in  the  roof, 
and  attend  to  the  chickens  in  that.  One  writer  ridicules  the  idea 
of  protection  being  required  for  the  attendant,  but  he  seems  to 
forget  that  human  beings  are  not  made  of  cast  iron,  and  that  even 
chickens  suffer  from  wet  and  cold. 

The  early  hatched  chickens  were  now  full  grown,  and  the 
cockerels  gave  us  unmistakable  hints  that  it  was  time  to  separate 
them  from  the  pullets.  So  I  had  some  moie  i)orlable  fencing 
made,  enclosed  the  large  shed,  and  kept  them  in  that.  They  were 
well  (ed  on  rather  flittening  food,  so  as  to  prepare  them  rapidly  for 
market,  and  we  got  rid  of  them  as  soon  as  possible  by  methods 
which  the  reader  will  find  detailed  in  tlie  chapter  on  warketing. 
To  the  pullets  we  allowed  the  range  of  the  i)lace,  but  we  found 
that  although  the  nights  began  to  grow  cold,  and  even  after  snow 
came,  they  would  persist  in  roosting  in  trees  and  on  fences,  and  it 
was  almost  impossible  to  get  them  into  the  houses.  Night  after 
night  we  carried  them  into  a  house  and  placed  them  on  the  roost, 
but  next  night  they  would  be  found  in  their  own  place  the  same  as 
ever.  The  worst  of  it  was  that  they  were  excellent  fliers,  so  that 
non(;  of  our  fences  would  keep  them  in. 

I  got  over  this  difficulty  by  catching  them  one  by  one,  shaving 


146  COMMON    SENSE 

off  the  featliery  part  from  tlie  quills  of  one  wing,  and  placing  them 
in  the  old  house  where  there  was  most  room.  We  had  to  lock  up 
the  entire  flock  for  ten  days,  but  at  the  end  of  that  time  when  we 
let  them  out  we  had  no  trouble. 

I  was  anxious  to  leave  the  poultry  at  liberty  as  long  as  possible, 
so  though  November  brought  wet  and  dreary  days  and  a  few 
flurries  of  snow,  yet  the  chickens  did  very  well.  Many  of  them 
moulted  and  consequently  stopped  laying,  but  I  was  surprised  at 
the  number  of  eggs  that  we  got  every  day.  The  number  of  hens 
on  the  place  was  a  litde  less  than  600,  and  of  these  two-thirds 
must  have  been  laying  for  many  days;  we  got  twenty  and  twenty- 
five  dozen  eggs.  At  this  time  it  was  our  practice  to  shut  the  hens 
in  every  night,  and  keep  them  in  until  late  in  the  morning.  As 
soon  as  they  were  let  out,  they  had  a  warm  feed  of  dough  made 
by  scalding  a  mixture  of  corn  meal  and  oil-cake,  and  adding  a 
litde  of  the  siftings  of  ground  oyster  shells,  and  a  litde  red  pepper. 
At  noon  they  had  wheat,  as  much  as  they  could  eat.  At  night  a 
good  feed  of  whole  corn.  On  fine  days  they  had  free  access  to 
the  patch  of  clover  and  grass,  and  on  wet  days  they  had  cab- 
bages, as  much  as  they  could  eat.  Twice  a  week  they  had  all 
the  meat  and  ground  bones  they  would  eat  after  their  dinner  of 
wheat. 

Under  this  regimen  they  throve  well,  and  became  very  bright 
and  vigorous.  The  egg  crop  increased  to  thirty  dozen  per  day, 
and  as  eggs  were  bringing  a  good  price  (35  cents  per  dozen)  we 
much  more  dian  paid  expenses.  At  this  time  (Nov.  25th)  we  had 
on  the  place  over  1,200  head;  some  of  them,  however,  quite 
small.  The  feed  cost  about  $4  per  day,  besides  labor,  and  the 
returns  were  over  $10,  so  that  tlie  result  was  on  the  whole  quite 
satisfactory.  As  we  were  disposing  of  our  cockerels  quite  rapidly, 
the  amount  of  food  required  was  also  lessened. 

This  experience,  however,  was  somewhat  exceptional.  Under 
ordinary  conditions  the  egg  crop  would  have  kept  growing  less  and 
less  until  the  revival  in  February  and  March',  and  it  was  evident 
that  under  the  stimulus  of  more  liberal  feeding  than  they  had  been 
previously  accustomed  to,  and  also  the  influence  of  red  pepper  and 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  I47 

bones,  their  latent  powers  were  being  developed.     How  long  they 
could  stand  this,  however,  was  a  question. 

Real-  cold  weather  did  not  set  in  until  after  tlie  middle  of  De- 
cember, and  then  it  was  ushered  in  with  a  rather  heavy  fall  of  snow. 
This  prevented  all  access  to  green  stuff  growing  in  the  fields,  and 
confined  the  hens  to  their  houses  and  sheds.  And  here  the  ghiss 
roofs  came  into  phiy  with  striking  effect.  While  all  was  cold,  wet 
and  dreary  outside,  these  glass  covered  sheds  were  dry  and  warm. I 
We  made  a  stout  snow  plow%  and  with  Madge's  aid  we  opened  up 
l)aths  all  round  the  place,  so  that  Margaret  could  reach  every 
house  without  any  trouble. 

As  there  was  but  little  outside  work  for  the  man  now,  we  kept 
the  boiler  going  all  the  time,  and  we  ground  u[)  bones  quite  liber- 
ally. As  the  biids  were  somewliat  crowded,  we  picked  out  a  few 
that  we  thought  the  poorest,  and  fattened  them  up,  and  got  rid  of 
them.  We  also  got  rid  of  the  last  of  the  cockerels,  except  the 
very  young  ones,  and  in  this  way  we  made  more  room  for  the 
rest.  But  in  spite  of  all  our  efforts  and  extra  feed,  the  egg  crop 
diminished;  the  cold  sna[)  produced  a  remarkably  sudden  and 
great  change  in  the  birds,  and  our  receipts  frequently  fell  from 
thirty  to  less  than  ten  dozen.  But,  as  the  number  of  eggs  i)roduced 
grew  less,  the  price  increased;  forty,  fifty  and  nt  last  sixty  cents  was 
reached. 

Thus  far  our  fowls  kept  in  good  health,  but  then,  as  we  well 
knew,  the  worst  was  to  come.  It  was  the  cold  of  February  and 
March  that  -I  dreaded  worst. 

In  the  large  houses  the  hens  kept  very  comfortable.  But  in  the 
breeding  pens  the  birds  began  to  suffer  with  the  cold  of  January. 
The  snow  left  us  about  the  8th  of  January,  and  we  had  some  veryi 
fine  weather  about  that  time.  In  a  few  days,  however,  it  grew 
cold  again,  and  was  much  more  severe  that  it  had  {i'eviously  been. 
The  birds  in  the  breeding  ])ens,  having  no  glass  sheds,  were  com- 
pelled to  go  out  in  the  open  air  whenever  they  left  their  coops, 
and  the  combs  and  wattles  of  the  hens  got  frozen,  so  that  laying 
entirely  ceased.  And  as  I  was  very  anxious  to  get  eggs  fiom  these 
coops,  so  as  to  be  able  to  raise  some  very  early  puHets,  that  would 


148  COMMON    SENSE 

lay  next  winter,  I  confess  I  was  taken  quite  aback  at  this  new  ob- 
stacle. Indeed,  so  serious  was  the  difficulty,  that  I  almost  gave 
up  all  hope  of  success  that  season. 

It  was  an  awkward  predicament  to  be  sure.  What  could  be 
done  ? 

I  saw  at  once  that  all  hope  of  intelHgent  crossing  and  breeding 
from  these  hens  was  at  an  end,  so  far  as  early  chickens  this  season 
were  concerned.  I,  therefore,  decided  to  rearrange  some  of  my 
yards,  and  make  up  one  almost  entirely  of  laying  liens,  and  in 
this  I  put  several  of  my  best  cocks.  I  know  that  this  is  not  an 
advisable  system,  but  I  could  not  very  well  do  otherwise.  To 
have  more  than  one  cock  in  a  coop  is  very  unwise.  They  prevent 
each  other  from  paying  attention  to  the  hens  and  this  causes  many 
of  the  eggs  to  prove  unfertile.  But  I  couUl  not  very  well  help  it, 
and  so  I  had  to  arrange  as  best  I  could. 

The  neglect  to  provide  for  my  breeding  stock  was  my  first  great 
blunder,  and  the  one  that  did  more  than  anything  else  to  retard 
my  progress.  It  was  a  mere  oversight;  I  knew  better,  but  I  did 
not  realize  the  necessities  of  the  case. 

The  laying  hens,  placed  in  one  of  the  large  houses  with  glass 
shed,  etc.,  soon  supplied  us  with  eggs  for  setting,  and  as  we  always 
had  hens  ready  to  set,  we  soon  had  our  early  broods  under  way. 
Of  course  they  would  be  a  mixed  lot,  but  as  tliey  were  all  good, 
we  had  considerable  hope  of  fair  results. 

So  far  as  our  sixty  breeding  hens  were  concerned,  there  was 
nothing  for  it  but  to  give  u[)  one  of  the  warmest  houses  to  them, 
and  keep  them  in  that.  So  I  picked  out  the  most  convenient 
house, distributed  the  hens  amongst  the  other  houses,  and  tiansferred 
all  my  breeders  to  their  new  house.  They  were  left  there  without  any 
cock  until  they  began  to  lay  again  freely,  which  was  not  till  late  in 
February.  Meantime  I  put  up  small  glass  covered  sheds  against 
the  breeding  coops,  made  everything  still  more  snug  and  warm, 
and,  in  short,  made  the  small  coops  as  much  proof  against  the 
weather  as  the  large  ones.  I  then  gradually  transferred  the  hens 
back  to   them,  and  alchough  I  did  not  raise  my  earliest  chickens 


IN   THE    POULTRY   YARD.  I49 

from  the  eggs  of  my  best  hens,  yet   I  was  able  to  get  Several  very 
fine  broods  in  April  and  May. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  a  hen  that  gets  htr  comb  or  wattles 
frozen,  will  cease  to  lay  until  tlie  sores  are  healed.  I  found  that 
fowls  with  rose-combs,  as  they  are  called,  were  much  less  liable  to 
freezing  than  tliose  with  large  single  combs,  and  one  of  my  greatest 
objections  to  the  Biown  Leghorns,  is  their  enormous  combs,  which 
are  not  only  long,  but  very  thick  and  fleshy.  But  I  found  that  a 
young  bird  that  had  been  "  dubbed,"  as  the  cock-figliteis  call  it,, 
stood  the  frost  much  Ijetter  than  even  the  rose-comb.  After  the 
first  winter,  theiefore,  I  "dubbed"  all  my  fowls — that  is  to  say,  I 
cut  the  combs  and  wattles  off  with  a  pair  of  shears.  The  i)ain  can- 
not be  very  great — not  nearly  so  much  as  the  large  sores  caused 
by  being  frost-bitten,  and  the  0})eration  is  easily  and  quickly  i)er- 
formed.  A  single  cut  removes  the  entire  comb,  and  the  wound  is 
then  dusted  with  a  i)owder  made  by  roasting  one  })art  of  sulphate 
of  iron,  and  three  parts  of  alum  in  an  old  pot.  This  mixture  is. 
then  reduced  to  a  fine  powder,  ami  kept  in  a  closely  corked  bot- 
tle. A  little  is  put  in  a  small  box,  and  used  as  wanted.  It  is  an 
old  and  famous  styptic  (a  medicine  for  stopping  bleeding),  and  was 
in  great  request  amongst  the  warriors  of  old,  who  were  often  com- 
pelled to  be  their  own  surgeons.  Care  must  be  taken  that  it  does 
not  get  into  the  eyes  of  the  birds,  'or  bad  results  will  follow. 

While  hens  frequently  stop  laying  in  very  cold  weather,  it  was 
long  ago  proved  by  Reaumur  that  mere  warmth  will  not  induce  a 
hen  to  keei)  on  laying  during  winter.  In  laying,  as  in  all  similar 
physiological  processes,  a  period  of  rest  is  needed,  and  without  this 
ordinary  breeds  of  hens  cannot  lay.  Knight  proved  this  law,  even 
in  regard  to  plants,  and  showed  that  if  we  want  to  force  i)lants 
successfully,  we  must  first  give  them  a  season  of  rest,  and  this  may 
be  done  by  shading,  cold  and  dryness.  I  have  always  thought 
that  a  large  part  of  my  success  in  getting  eggs  the  first  winter,  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  hens  stopped  laying  after  I  got  them,  and 
hence  had  their  needed  rest  at  that  time. 

That  cold  alone  does  not  prevent  hens  from  laying  was  clearly 
shown   this  spring.       In   February  and   March  the   weather  was 


156  COMMON  SENSE 

colder  and  TiVor^  severe  than  during  any  other  time,  yet  it  was 
during  this  period  that  we  got  most  eggs  horn  the  hens  that  were 
on  the  place  when  I  got  it. 

As  the  season  wore  on,  tlie  eggs  to  began  to  increase  again,  but 
the  price  fell  until  it  scarcely  paid  for  the  tear  and  wear  of  tlie 
hens.  The  price  got  as  low  as  16  cents  per  dozen,  so  that  it  took 
25  dozen  to  pay  for  feed  alone. 

I  When  the  first  days  of  April  came  and  the  snows  of  March  had 
disap])eared,  we  were  all  impressed  with  a  feeling  of  great  relief. 
The  birds  could  again  wander  over  the  entire  place,  and  \\\^  prospect 
of  green  food  and  plenty  of  insects  was  encouraging,  even  if  the 
reality  had  not  come.  Our  losses  had  been  but  slight,  considering 
the  motley  composition  of  the  flock — all  ages,  sizes  and  con- 
ditions. We  lost  twenty-six  old  birds — a  little  over  four  per  cent. — 
and  this,  I  thought,  was  not  a  bad  showing.  They  died  with 
various  sym[)toms — all  evidently  caused  by  severe  weather.  In 
the  matter  of  chicken  diseases,  I  do  not  profess  to  be  an  expert. 
When  one  of  my  birds  shows  signs  of  ill-health,  we  place  it  in 
warm  quarters,  give  it  pills  made  of  cayenne  pe[)per,  butter  and 
bread,  and  then  feed  it  on  soft  food  and  clean  water.  If  it  im- 
proves (and  they  generally  do)  in  three  or  four  days,  all  right.  If 
not  we  chop  its  head  off  and  bury  it  where  the  other  chickens  can- 
not, get  at  it. 

The  fiirmers,  and  especially  the  "suburban"  residents,  now  began 
to  buy  chickens  for  laying,  and  paid  good  prices  for  them.  They 
thought  in  this  way,  to  save  the  labor  and  cost  of  wintering  them, 
and  perhaps  they  did.  But  I  had  no  objection  to  sell  those  of  my 
fowls  from  which  I  had  taken  as  much  good  as  I  was  likely  to 
get,  and  so  I  made  up  a  few  crates  selected  from  the  different 
houses,  and  in  this  way  I  reduced  my  stock  very  considerably. 
The  broods  of  last  spring  and  summer  were  now  laying,  and 
the  fall  broods  were  coming  on  quite  rapidly,  so  I  thought  it  as 
well  to  dispose  of  some  of  the  least  valuable  of  my  stock. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  151 


Nests  nnb  Nest  €996. 

HE  nest  of  every  bird  is  primarily  designed  for  hatching 
and  rearing  its  young.  The  use  to  which  we  put  the 
laying  nests  is  not  one  designed  by  nature.  This  being 
the  object,  the  bird  likes  seclusion,  and  always  plays  at  "  nest- 
hiding  "when  it  can  get  a  chance.  No  one  ever  found  a  stolen 
nest  exposed  to  the  full  glare  of  observation  ;  it  is  into  dark  corners 
and  out  of  the  way  places  that  nature  leads  the  bird.  And  yet  I 
have  seen  otherwise  intelligent  men  place  the  nests  of  their  laying 
hens  so  that  they  were  fully  exi)osed  to  view. 

During  the  height  of  the  laying  season  the  nests  in  the  houses 
did  not  give  the  birds  quite  room  enough,  and  I  never  like  to  see 
two  birds  on  one  nest,  so  I  had  an  extra  lot  of  the  hatching  boxes 
made  and  placed  them  in  the  sheds  and  against  fences,  but  at 
such  a  distance  from  the  latter  that  the  hens  could  walk  in  between 
the  box  and  the  wall  and  so  reach  the  nest. 

To  examine  these  nests,  or  to  collect  eggs,  it  was  not  necessary 
to  go  in  front  of  the  boxes;  all  we  had  to  do  was  to  let  down  the 
hinged  board  and  everything  was  within  reach.  If,  on  first  open- 
ing the  door,  a  hen  was  seen'  on  the  nest,  the  door  was  gently 
closed  again,  and  she  was  left  to  her  own  meditations. 

In  making  nests  for  both  the  laying  and  sitting  hens,  we  used  a 
fine  kind  of  grass  or  hay  that  is  used  for  packing  glassware,  and 
can  be  obtained  in  moderate  quantities  from  almost  any  crockery 
store.  Common  straw  is  too  coarse  ;  if  chopped  short  the  cut  ends 
irritate  the  hen,  and  if  left  long  her  feet  get  entangled  in  it,  and  the 
eggs  get  broken.  Pine  shavings  make  a  fair  nest,  and  the  turi)en- 
tine  keej)s  away  lice.  But  fine  grass,  dusted  with  suli)hur,  cannot 
be  excelled. 

The  nests  of  both  our  laying  and  sitting  hens  were  made  directly 
on  the  ground,  or,  if  on  a  floor,  a  sod  with  the  grassy  side  up  was 


J  52  COMMON    SENSE 

placed  on  the  bottom.  On  this  was  placed  a  layer  of  fine  grass, 
and  the  whole  well  dusted  with  sulphur.  As  soon  as  the  chicks 
come  ofif,  the  nests  should  be  removed,  and  either  burned  or  buried 
deeply  in  the  manure  heap.  The  sod  keeps  the  eggs  damp,  but 
if  on  a  floor  it  gets  too  dry,  and  after  a  time  the  eggs  should  be 
sprayed  with  water  when  the  hen  is  ofl".  Our  spraying  apparatus 
consisted  of  a  pan  of  water  and  a  small  whisk  broom.  Some  wise- 
acre lias  asked  :  "  Who  sprays  the  eggs  of  the  wild  bird  and  the 
stolen  nest?  "  to  which  sapient  conundrum  the  answer  is  obvious. 
The  hen  herself  does  it.  Wild  birds  rarely  make  nests  until  the 
grass  begins  to  grow  and  the  morning  dews  begin  to  fall.  Then 
when  she  leaves  her  nest  it  is  generally  in  the  early  morning,  when 
nocturnal  enemies  have  retired,  and  while  as  yet  the  animals  that 
prey  during  the  day  have  not  come  forth.  She  steals  along  through 
the  grass,  fearful  of  being  observed,  picking  up  stray  seeds,  worms 
and  bugs,  and  when  she  returns  the  eggs  may  not  have  been 
sprayed,  but  she  has  been,  and  that  amounts  to  the  same  thing. 

Concerning  nest  eggs  great  differences  of  opinion  exist.  We 
have  heard  successful  poultry  keepers  ridicule  them  most  unmerci- 
fully, and  we  have  known  others  of  equal  experience  who  believed 
them  to  be  of  great  advantage.  Our  own  view  is  that  hens  will  not 
lay  quite  as  many  eggs  without  nest  eggs  as  with  them.  It  is  true, 
when  the  egg  is  fully  formed,  the  hen  must  lay  it  or  lose  her  life. 
So  that  if  hens  are  confined  in  small  pens,  and  are  thus  prevented 
from  laying  away,  nest  eggs  would  seem  to  be  really  of  little  or  no 
use.  But  hens,  as  is  well  known,  have  a  strong  propensity  to  lay 
in  each  other's  nests,  and  wherever  there  is  an  unoccupied  nest  with 
one  or  more  eggs,  theie  will  the  nest  egg  be  laid.  Therefore,  where 
the  hens  have  considerable  range  it  is  always  well  to  place  nest 
eggs  in  the  nests.  We  have  known  a  hen  to  lay  regularly  in  a  nest 
with  a  nest  egg  in  it,  and  then  to  forsake  this  nest  when  the  nest 
egg  was  removed.  But  we  believe  that  nest  eggs  have  a  further 
use.  It  is  well  known  that  in  the  case  of  wild  birds,  egg  laying 
maybe  stimulated  to  a  great  extent  by  the  presence  of  one  egg  and 
the  removal  of  all  the  others.  The  high-holder,  which  usually  lays 
but  four  eggs,  may  be  thus  stimulated  to  lay  fifteen ;  why  may  not 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  1 53 

this  principle  hold  good  in  the  case  of  the  common  hen?  We  be- 
lieve that  it  does,  and  our  rule  has  been  to  have  plenty  of  nests, 
each  provided  with  a  nest  egg,  and  to  remove  all  eggs,  as  fast  as 
this  can  be  done  without  disturbing  the  hens. 

What  shall  we  use  for  this  [)urpose  ?  Some  poultry  keepers  use 
any  old  or  stale  eggs  that  may  be  on  hand — a  very  filthy  and  fool- 
ish habit,  as  such  eggs  when  broken  defile  the  nests  and  tlisgiist  the 
hens.  To  disgust  such  owners  by  any  amount  of  filth  would  of  course 
be  imi)ossible.  Some  English  writers  recommend  a  small  lump  of 
chalk,  and  this  is  no  doubt  very  good  when  chalk  is  easily  pro- 
cured, but,  unfortunately,  it  was  not  available  in  my  neighborhood. 
At  first,  therefore,  we  used  the  common  white  glass  nest  eggs,  and 
during  warm  weather  there  can  be  no  objection  to  such  eggs  ex- 
ce[)t  on  the  score  of  cost.  Dealers  ask  from  three  to  six  cents  for 
them,  and  this  is  altogether  too  much  to  pay  for  nest  eggs,  though 
perhaps  glass  ones  cannot  be  sold  for  less.  In  cold  weather,  how- 
ever, the  hens  seem  to  dislike  them.  They  easily  become  very 
cold,  and  being  comparatively  poor  conductors  of  heat  they  are 
very  chilly  to  the  touch.  Our  little  German  maiden  thought, 
therefore,  that  she  would  get  u[)  a  better  nest  egg,  and  so  she  emp- 
tied a  few  shells  of  their  contents  and  filled  them  with  dry  corn 
meal.  This  would  have  answered  admirably  if  the  rats  and  mice 
had  not  soon  found  them  out  and  destroyed  them.  Perha[)s  if  she 
had  used  sawdust  the  rats  would  have  let  them  alone.  But  any 
kind  of  powder  is  bad,  although  the  device  was  a  very  ingenious 
one.  We  were  therefore  driven  to  adopt  another  plan.  We  made 
a  very  small  pinhole  in  one  end  of  an  egg,  and  in  the  other  end  we 
cut  a  hole  three-eighths  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  contents  were 
blown  out  of  the  egg  through  the  large  hole,  and  the  shell  was  then 
filled  with  plaster-of-Parrs  properly  mixed  with  water.  As  soon  as 
the  plaster  hardened  we  had  a  most  excellent  nest  egg  at  a  cost  of  less 
than  lialf  a  cent,  for  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  egg  itself 
could  be  used  for  cooking  purposes. 

The  pkister  used  for  this  purpose  may  be  obtained  at  any  i)aint 
store.  The  i)roper  way  to  mix  it  is  as  follows:  Pour  into  a  bowl 
as  much  water  as  you  think  you  will  need  to  fill  the  egg-shells  you 


154  COMMON    SENSE 

liav^e  prepared,  and  sliake  into  it  the  i)owdered  plaster  until  tlie 
whole  is  like  good  cream.  It  should  be  just  thin  enough  to  pour 
very  easily.  Before  mixing  the  plaster,  eveiything  should  be  in 
readiness,  as  the  mixture  sets,  or  becomes  quite  stiff  in  a  few  minutes, 
and  consequendy  it  should  be  used  as  soon  as  mixed.  Prepare  the 
egg-shells  by  blowing  them  as  we  have  described,  and  then  paste  a 
small  [)iece  of  paper  over  the  small  hole.  This  sliould  be  done  long 
enough,  beforehand,  to  allow  the  whole  to  dry.  Place  the  eggs 
in  a  pan  of  sawdust,  earth,  sand  or  ashes,  so  that  they  will  staiid 
firmly  with  the  large  hole  up.  Then  mix  the  plastei',  and  with  a 
funnel,  made  of  tin,  or  even  of  card,  or  stiff  })aper,  fill  all  the  eggs 
as  quickly  as  possible.  If  the  plaster  is  too  thin,  it  may  shrink  in 
the  eggs,  and  leave  a  vacancy  at  the  top.  Watch  for  this  and 
keep  filling  up. 

Afterwards,  however,  we  adopted  wooden  nest  eggs  as  being 
still  better.  Such  nest  eggs  can  be  turned  out  of  any  soft  wood 
for  a  few  cents  ])er  hundred,  and  when  di[)pe(l  in  whitewash  and 
dried,  they  form  the  best  nest  eggs  to  be  had.  If  first  soaked  in  a 
strong  solution  of  carbolic  acid  and  then  whitewashed  and  dried, 
they  will  effectually  drive  away  all  vermin  from  the  nest. 

Wooden  nest  eggs  can  be  made  by  any  wood  turner  out  of  the 
cheai)est  and  lightest  wood.  Willow,  chestnut,  i)oplar,  etc.,  are  all 
good.  An  expert  wood-turner  can  make  three  or  four  a  minute, 
and  any  boy  can  turn  up  very  good  ones  in  the  clieaj)  little  lathes 
that  come  with  scroll  saws.  A  few  dozen  nest  eggs  would  be 
a  nice  Christmas  present  for  any  friend  that  has  hens.  The 
wooden  eggs  should  be  dipped  in  common  lime  whitewash,  and 
allowed  to  dry.  As  often  as  they  get  dirty,  souse  them  in  a  i)ail  of 
whitewash,  tumble  tliem  about  with  a  stick  and  spread  them  on*  the 
ground  to  dry,  first  laying  down  some  old  news[)apers  to  keep  them 
clean. 

There  is  a  small  variety  of  gourd,  the  fruit  of  which  is  almost 
exactly  the  size  and  shape  of  an  egg.  Such  little  gourds  make 
capital  nest  eggs,  and  they  are  now  cultivated  by  some  poultry 
keepers  for  that  very  purpose.  They,  too,  may  be  cleaned  by 
whitewash. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  I55 

We  made  it  a  rule  to  keep  nice  clean  nest  eggs  in  every  nest, 
and  the  wooden  eggs  had  this  advantage,  that  they  were  so  light, 
that,  even  in  the  dark,  they  could  be  readily  distinguished  from  the 
real  eggs.  On  one  occasion,  wlien  we  were  using  glass  eggs,  we 
were  surprised  at  the  enormous  number  of  eggs  reported  as  being 
laid  by  our  half  dozen  hens — something  like  two  to  each  hen — and 
our  hired  girl  was  in  ecstasies.  She  had  collected  the  whole  contents 
of  the  nests — nest  eggs  and  all  I 


156  COMMON   SENSE 


iJlarketing. 

S  the  mild  days  of  spring  ai)proached,  eggs  began  ccme  in 
quite  rapidly — thirty  and  forty  dozen  per  day — and 
it  was  necessary  to  find  some  method  of  getting  rid 
of  ihem  profitably.  I  tried  to  sell  all  I  could  to  private  parties, 
and  the  rest  I  was  obliged  to  get  rid  of  at  tlie  stores,  tliough  the 
price  was  at  this  season  very  low — even  down  to  18  cents  per 
dozen.  As  I  expected  next  year  to  have  twice  the  number  of 
hens  in  my  yard,  and  to  get  more  than  twice  the  number  of  eggs, 
it  was  necessary  to  get  up  a  system  of  marketing  whicli  would  re- 
lieve me  somewhat  from  the  danger  of  glutting  the  stores,  and  I 
saw  that  diis  could  only  be  done  by  offering  extra  inducements  in 
the  way  of  freshness,  neatness  and  convenience  to  tiie  consumer. 

I  had  always  had  a  great  horror  of  "  middlemen  "  and  "job- 
bers." As  a  general  rule  they  are  mere  parasites  on  the  body 
social,  standing  between  the  retailer  and  the  producer,  and  fleecing 
both.  I  concluded,  therefore,  that  I  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  them.  I  found,  however,  that  the  "egg  business"  Avas  in  a 
most  singular  state.  The  retailer  paid  almost  as  much  for  liis  eggs 
as  he  got  fcr  them,  and  those  large  establishments  (restaurants, 
hotels,  etc.)  offered  prices  a  good  deal  less  than  the  groceries  paid. 
At  first  I  was  puzzled  over  this  condition  of  things,  but  I  soon  saw 
through  it.  The  hotels  and  restaurants  in  our  large  cities  never 
buy  fresh-laid  eggs.  When  I  could  get  forty  cents  per  dozen  for 
eggs  in  the  groceries,  they  offered  twenty  and  twenty-five!  What 
eggs  could  they  buy  at  that  price?  Chiefly  imported  eggs, 
brought  fi-om  Belgium,  Denmark  and  Germany,  where  money  is  so 
scarce  amongst  the  wretched  inhabitants  that  their  crops  are  sold 
for  whatever  they  can  get.  No  wonder  that  such  eggs  differ 
widely  in  flavor  from  what  are  called  country  eggs.  I  have  always 
been  suspicious  of  eggs  in  restaurants,  but  since  my  investigations, 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  1 57 

when  I  was  trying  to  find  a  market  for  my  own  eggs,  I  have  never 
touched  an  egg  in  a  restaurant. 

On  the  other  hand,  tlie  grocers  gave  the  country  people  full  value 
for  eggs,  because  they  ex])ected  to  pay  for  them  in  trade,  although, 
perha[)s,  sucli  a  condition  was  not  always  expressed.  A  country 
woman  comes  to  the  grocery  with  a  few  dozen  eggs ;  she  sells  them 
for  j/ioney,  it  is  true,  but  she  turns  right  round  and  buys  her  tea, 
coftee  ami  sugar  at  the  same  place,  and  the  bill  for  these  probably 
exceeds  the  amount  she  receives  for  eggs.  One  who  did  not  buy 
as  largely  as  she  did  in  proportion  to  her  sales  could  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  meet  with  the  same  favor. 

The  marketing  of  the  eggs  was  therefore  a  problem  that  gave  me 
a  good  deal  of  anxiety.  1  finally  resolved  to  work  up  a  local  trade, 
if  possible,  and  secure  regular  customers,  who  would  be  supplied 
with  my  best  eggs,  guaranteed  to  be  not  over  two  days  old.  The 
following  is  the  plan  which  I  ultimately  adopted,  and  am  now  car- 
vying  out.  The  first  season  our  methods  were  of  necessity  rather 
slipshod  and  imperfect,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  detail  them. 

I  had  a  few  boxes  made,  twenty  to  begin  with,  each  holding 
three  dozen  eggs.  As  our  eggs  were  quite  large,  the  boxes  were 
8  inches  long,  6  inches  wide,  and  8  inches  deep.  They  had  a  nice 
lid,  and  a  wire  hnndle  or  bale,  which  folded  down  over  the  box  and 
out  of  the  way  when  packed  in  the  spring  wagon.  On  the  top  of 
the  lid  was  a  label,  a  co[)y  of  which  will  be  found  on  the  following 
page,  and  in  each  crate  we  generally  placed  a  few  spare  labels,  loose, 
as  circulars. 

The  price  was  given  by  writing  it  in  the  blank.  When  the  price 
was  changed  a  slij)  of  pa[)er  was  pasted  over  the  old  price,  and  the 
new  price  written  thereon.  This  was  some  trouble,  it  is  true,  but 
I  believe  it  paid  in  the  end. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  label: 


158  .  COMMON    SENSE 


FRESH    EGGS 


FROM 


FERNIEBIELD  POULTRY  YARDS. 


Each  egg  is  stamped  with  the  date  o?i  which  it  was  gathered,  and 
is  guaranteed  to  be  ?iot  over  two  days  old  when  delivered. 

As  these  eggs  have  not  been  fertilized  they  will  ?iot  hatch,  and  will 
therefore  keep  longer  than  ordinary  eggs. 

The  utmost  care  has  been  taken  to  obtain  the  very  best  breeds 
of  fowls,  and  to  so  feed  them  that  the  eggs  will  be  of  large  size  and 
of  the  finest  flavor. 

A  tainted  egg  in  our  crates  is  simply  an  impossibility. 
ORDB-IiS    SOLICITED. 

Eggs  suitable  for  hatching  supplied  on  application.  Postal  cards 
addressed  to 

J.  P.  HAia 

Ferniebield 
promptly  attended  to. 

Prices  according  to  the  market  rates.  This  week  the  t)rice  per 
dozen  is 


I  also  liad  a  neat  little  rubber  stamp  made,  with  the  following 
inscription : 

Eggs  from  Ferniebield. 

Jan.  5,   18... 

The  date  was  cliangeable,  and  with  this  stamp  a  boy  could  mark 
the  eggs  at  the  rate  of  about  five  per  minute,  or  three  and  a  half 
hours  to  1,000  eggs. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  1 59 

At  first  the  new  system  was  the  subject  of  a  good  deal  of 
laughter  and  quiet  ridicule.  This  very  ridicule  and  laughter  hel[)ed 
me,  however.  I  went  to  a  luunber  of  the  best  families  in  town, 
and  left  a  crate  containing  one  dozen  eggs,  with  the  following  note 
which  I  had  manifolded  on  a  gelatin  pad : 

"  I  take  the  liberty  of  leaving  with  you  a  few  eggs,  the  quality, 
etc.,  of  which  you  will  find  fully  described  on  the  enclosed  circular. 
If,  after  trying  these  eggs,  you  are  pleased  with  this  method  of  ab- 
solutely insuring  your  table  against  the  presence  of  a  stale  or 
tainted  egg,  I  shall  be  pleased  to  receive  your  orders  for  any  quan- 
tity, however  large  or  however  small.  Please  preserve  the  crate, 
which  will  be  called  for.  Our  system  is  to  leave  the  crate  with  our 
customers,  exchanging  full  for  empty  ones  when  we  get  orders. 
Trusting  that  you  will  pardon  this  intrusion,  I  remain,  etc." 

Now,  when  we  lived  in  the  village  we  were  supplied  with  eggs 
by  our  milkman,  a  very  honest,  careful  fellow.  Yet  Avith  all  his 
care  it  had  sometimes  happened  that  a  stale  egg  would  slip  into 
the  lot — obtained,  I  suppose,  from  some  nest  that  had  been  over- 
looked. Under  our  system  it  was  difficult  for  such  nests  to  exist, 
and  when  we  did  find  eggs  in  a  stolen  nest  they  were  broken, 
cooked  and  fed  to  the  chickens*.  In  this  way  we  could  abso- 
lutely insure  our  customers  against  stale  eggs,  and  every  one 
knows  how  a  single  stale  egg  will  spoil  the  breakfast  of  a  dozen 
people. 

The  idea  took,  as  I  thought  it  would.  When  we  called  for  our 
crates  we  found  in  every  one  an  order,  of  which  the  following  may 
be  taken  as  a  sample : 

"  Having  tried  your  eggs  we  like  your  system  very  much. 
Please  bring  us  3  dozen  on  Monday.  Mrs.  J.  Robinson." 

*We  knew  that  tliey  could  not  hatch,  and  so  it  would  have  been  a  waste  of 
grallinaceous  lime  and' effort  to  leave  them  wiUi  the  hen.  But  hens  that  steal 
tlieir  nests  generally  brin<?  out  stronji;  clutches.  We  therefore  placed  in  the 
nest  a  sitting?  of  good  eggs,  and  we  were  always  rewarded  with  a  lot  of  fine 
strong  chicks. 


l6o  COMMON    SENSE 

At  first  these  orders  seemed  a  small  business,  and  we  were  com- 
pelled to  sell  our  surplus  eggs  at  the  stores,  but  we  had  faith  tliat 
our  customers  would  increase  rapidly,  and  we  were  not  disap- 
l)ointed.  'J'he  novel  mode  of  putting  tliem  up,  tlie  large  size 
and  excellent  flavor  of  the  eggs,  and  the  flict  that  every  egg  was 
guaranteed,  all  combined  to  increase  our  business,  especially  as  the 
prices  were  not  higher  than  those  asked  by  the  best  grocers.  Eggs 
could  be  had  much  more  cheaply  than  from  me,  but  not  fresh 
eggs  from  respectable  houses.  '\\\t  loose  circulars  were  distrib- 
uted freely  as  a  novelty  ;  postal  cards  began  to  come  in,  and  visi- 
tors soon  began  to  make  their  ai)pearance  at  our  yards  to  examine 
the  poultry  of  which  they  had  heard  so  much.  My  twenty  crates 
were  nowhere,  and  I  at  once  gave  an  order  for  250.  Before"!  re- 
ceived them  I  had  orders  for  over  three  hundred  dozen  eggs,  for 
which  I  had  no  crates.  I  therefore  bought  a  lot  of  cheap  but 
pretty  little  baskets,  and  here  again  the  gelatin  pad  came  to  my 
rescue,  I  wrote  a  short  explanation  and  apology  for  not  sending 
a  crate,  and  tied  it  to  the  handle  of  each  basket. 

I  made  it  a  rule  never  to  expose  guaranteed  eggs  in  the  stores. 
I  sold  eggs  to -the  storekeepers,  but  unstamped  or  with  the  stamp 
washed  off.  For  this  reason  I  used  a  greyish  kind  of  ink  for  stamp- 
ing the  eggs,  and  it  was  so  prepared  that  a  sponge  and  a  little 
warm  water  obliterated  the  stami)  completely.  I  never  could  quite 
remove  the  stain,  and  these  stained  eggs  soon  became  known  to 
buyers  and  were  preferred — partly  because  they  were  larger  and 
partly  because  they  came  from  the  now  famous  Ferniebield  yards. 
And  although  an  "  egg  is  an  egg,"  and  large  eggs  and  small  ones 
sell  for  the  same  price,  yet  I  found  that  most  housekeepers  had  a 
decided  preference  for  large  eggs,  and  that  small  ones  would  re- 
main unsold  long  after  the  large  ones  had  been  bought  up. 

I  sold  eggs  for  hatching  purposes  too,  and  as  it  was  known  that 
I  had  very  superior  fowls,  I  had  a  good  many  orders.  But  this 
subject  i)laced  me  in  rather  a  difficult  position.  Everybody 
thought  that  the  eggs  from  my  laying  hens  would  produce  pullets  as 
good  as  the  mothers,  and  when  I  advised  them  not  to  buy  these 
eggs,  they  thought  that  my  reason  for  so  advising  was  that  I  did 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  l6l 

not  want  to  sell — that  I  wanted  to  keep  the  breed  to  myself. 
When,  therefore,  they  found  that  eggs  which  were  fresh  and  cer- 
tainly from  my  yards,  could  be  had  in  the  stores,  they  felt  jubilant 
over  the  supposed  fact  that  they  had  outwitted  me.  Remember 
til  at  these  people  had  not  seen  my  labels  and  circulars.  I  have 
since  learned  that  quite  a  business  was  done  in  my  eggs  for  hatch- 
ing purposes.  Indeed,  I  had  several  orders  from  grocers  which  I 
filled  without  hesitation,  and  it  always  puzzled  me  to  know  why 
men  should  take  a  roundabout  way  of  getting  these  eggs,  when 
they  could  have  come  to  me  and  got  them  without  any  trouble. 

But  alas  !  the  eggs  never  hatched  !  And  then  it  became  current 
report  that  I  applied  a  certain  chemical  to  the  eggs  to  prevent  their 
hatching,  and  there  was  the  proof  in  the  curious  stam  found  on 
each  egg!!  It  is  often  in  business  as  in  lovers'  walks;  people 
prefer  a  crooked  and  roundabout  road  to  a  straight  one. 

Some  of  my  neighbors,  however,  took  a  different  course.  They 
came  to  me  frankly,  and  said  that  they  would  like  to  get  rid  of  their 
present  stock  of  fowls,  and  get  some  from  me  if  I  would  sell  them 
eggs  or  fowls.  I  at  once  explained  to  them  that  my  laying  fowls — 
my  best  hens  for  practical  purposes,  and  those  that  gave  the  eggs 
Avhich  I  furnished  to  my  customers — were  cross-bred  birds,  and 
thnt  they  could  not  keep  up  the  breed,  as  a  breed,  but  that  I  was 
perfectly  willing  to  let  them  have  eggs  every  year  to  keep  their 
yards  up.  I  also  explained  that  these  eggs  actually  cost  me  double 
what  my  marketable  eggs  cost ;  that  I  had  to  raise  or  buy  specially 
fine  cockerels  every  year,  and  keep  the  breeding  pens  carefully  at- 
tended to.  That  my  price  for  such  eggs,  eggs  giving  a  first  or 
second  cross,  was  just  double  the  market  price,  whatever  that 
might  be. 

Some  of  them  saw  the  reasonableness  of  the  system,  and  bought 
eggs  from  me  quite  freely.  Some  tried  to  breed  again  from  the 
birds  thus  raised,  but  it  is  needless  to  say  that  their  flocks  did  not 
show  the  same  uniformity  and  excellence  that  they  did  the  first 
year,  and  every  succeding  year  they  became  worse. 

My  sales  of  pure-bred  fowls  were  very  limited.  To  carry  on  a 
successfiil  business  in   this  branch,  requires  careful  management, 


1 62  COMMON    SENSE 

special  plant  and  considerable  advertising.  I  did  not  know 
enougli  about  it  to  warrant  me  in  going  into  it  extensively,  and  be- 
sides that,  I  did  not  want  to  let  anything  interfere  with  my  main  ex- 
periment; but  as  I  always  had  more  pure-bred  fowls  and  eggs  than 
I  wanted  for  my  own  use,  I  had  no  objection  to  selling  the  eggs  at 
fair  prices.  I  charged  $2.00  per  setting  for  my  choicest  eggs,  and 
as  I  always  purchased  a  few  choice  breeding  birds  and  raised  a  few 
first  class  cockerels  every  year,  this  price  was  not  high.  I  always 
had  in  my  yards  cockerels  that  had  cost  $10;  young  birds  from  these 
certainly  ought  to  have  been  worth  $2.50,  Avhich  was  my  standard 
rate.  And  I  readily  got  it,  for  Madame  Rumour  exaggerates 
everything,  and  it  was  soon  bruited  abroad  that  I  was  such  a  fool 
as  to  give  $50  or  even  $100  for  a  cock,  and  that  whatever  money 
I  had  would  soon  be  all  gone  at  that  rate.  When  the  yards  be- 
came a  success,  the  word  "  fool "  was  left  out,  and  I  was  called 
"an  enterprising  fellow"  and  a  thorough  judge  of  poultry,  who 
was  determined  to  have  the  best,  even  if  it  cost  a  hundred  dollars. 
In  all  which  the  followers  of  her  aforesaid  Ladyship  were  greatly  mis- 
taken, but,  nevertheless,  it  helped  to  sell  my  eggs  and  birds,  so 
that  I  have  no  special  reason  to  complain,  and  have  no  intention 
of  suing  anybody  for  slander  or  libel. 

As  soon  as  the  crate  system  became  fully  known,  I  had  orders 
for  all  the  eggs  I  could  produce,  and  none  were  left  for  sale  in  the 
groceries.  By-and-bye,  however,  my  production  began  to  fall  off, 
and  this  was  the  critical  period  in  the  business.  It  is  true  that,  as 
production  fell  off  the  price  was  raised,  and  so  the  number  used  was 
sligluly  less.  A  crate  which  in  the  height  of  the  season  lasted  but 
three  days,  now  lasted  four  or  five,  but,  even  then,  the  demand 
did  not  fall  off  as  rapidly  as  did  the  supply,  for  my  customers 
were  of  a  class  that  cared  but  little  for  a  few  cents  more  or  less 
per  dozen  for  eggs.  If  they  chose  eggs  they  had  eggs,  whatever 
might  be  the  market  price.  Now,  in  failing  to  supply  these  cus- 
tomers, I  ran  great  risk  of  losing  them,  for  most  of  them  had  a 
high  sense  of  their  own  importance,  and  indeed,  I  suppose  some  of 
them  thought  that  if  their  support  were  withdrawn  Ferniebield 
would  be  sold  at  auction.     I  therefore  prepared  a  circular  explain- 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  163 

ing  why  I  could  not,  at  this  time,  always  supply  as  many  eggs  as 
were  wanted,  but  promising  to  divide,  pro  rata,  with  all  my  cus- 
tomers. I  assured  them  that  in  quality  and  freshness  there  would 
be  no  falling  off,  and  ended  by  suggesting  that,  while  there  could 
be  no  substitute  for  Ferniebield  eggs  for  table  purposes,  others  might 
perhaps  be  used  to  good  advantage  for  baking,  etc.  This  plain 
statement  held  all  my  customers,  but  I  made  a  firm  resolution  tliat 
if  I  lived  I  would  have  eggs  as  plentiful  in  December  as  in  April, 
and  my  progress  towards  that  very  desirable  consummation  has 
not  been  inconsiderable. 

To  save  my  customers  as  much  trouble  as  possible,  I  procured  a 
quantity  of  postal  cards  with  my  address  printed  thereon,  and  on 
the  side  appropriated  to  messages  was  an  order  in  blank,  as  follows : 

Deliver    dozen  eggs  on to 

(Name) 

(Street  aiid  No.) 

These  cards  were  left  with  all  our  customers,  so  that  if  at  any 
time  they  wanted  eggs  they  could  have  them,  and,  as  I  had  a  box 
in  the  post  office  and  always  called  there,  eggs  could  be  had  every 
morning  by  simply  leaving  a  card  at  the  post  office  early  enough. 
I  never  sent  the  wagon  to  town  without  a  few  extra  crates  to 
supi)ly  this  casual  demand. 

The  marketing  of  the  surplus  chickens  gave  but  little  trouble. 
For  the  prime  table  chickens,  which  we  sold  during  the  fall  and 
winter,  we  found  customers  enough  amongst  those  who  bought 
our  eggs.  From  some,  we  had  regular  orders  to  deliver  one  or 
two  pairs  of  dressed  chickens  every  week,  on  certain  days,  and  it 
did  not  take  many  such  orders  to  clean  out  our  entire  stock. 

The  old  hens,  we  found  it  most  profitable  to  sell  in  open 
market.  They  brought  a  certain  rate  per  pound,  and  were  pretty 
sure  sale.  We  could  not  sell  them  to  our  regular  customers  as 
dressed  chickens,  and  neither  would  we  sell  them  to  those  who 
came  to  us  wanting  laying  hens  for  a  poultry  yard,  and  stating 


164  COMMON    SENSE 

exactly  what  they  wanted.  But,  when  sold  in  market,  without  any 
representations  as  to  character  or  quality,  we  had  no  hesitation 
about  taking  the  highest  price  we  could  get. 

Tlie  stock  that  required  the  greatest  care  in  selling,  was  our 
very  early  chickens.  They  were  worth  most — weight  for  weight — 
sometimes  bringing  as  high  as  seventy  cents  per  pound.  We  found 
that  there  was  considerable  difference  in  the  quality  of  these  very 
early  chickens,  according  to  the  kind  of  food  given  to  them  and 
the  manner  in  which  they  were  kept.  We  did  not  force  ours  as 
rapidly  as  some  breeders  did;  we  fed  more  cracked  wheat  and 
corn — particularly  wheat — and  less  meal.  The  birds,  therefore, 
showed  firmer  flesh,  and  did  not  waste  as  much  in  the  process 
of  cooking,  and  the  flavor  was  higher.  Our  birds  soon  became 
known  to  the  keepers  of  a  few  of  the  first  class  restaurants  in  the 
city,  and  we  could  always  dispose  of  all  we  had  at  good  prices. 
They  were  altogether  the  most  profitable  stock  we  raised,  and  after 
we  got  fairly  under  way  and  had  our  houses,  coops  and  yards 
fixed  up  for  them,  they  were  not  difficult  to  raise. 

We  sold  a  few  of  them  in  the  village,  but  not  many.  Very  few 
of  the  villagers — even  those  who  were  comparatively  well  to  do — 
cared  to  give  75  cents  for  a  little  chicken  weighing  a  pound  and  a 
half. 

But,  in  the  city,  this  price  was  not  thought  extravagant.  Chick- 
ens heavier  than  a  pound  and  a  half  did  not  sell  well,  per- 
haps, because  people  suspected  that  they  were  simply  old  chickens 
of  a  small  breed.  We,  therefore,  tried  to  bring  them  to  this 
weight  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  as  soon  as  we  saAV  that  they  were 
large  enough,  we  sold  them  out.  We  soon  learned  to  estimate 
their  weight,  by  the  eye,  quite  accurately. 

We  found  a  great  difference  in  the  rapidity  with  which  different 
breeds  reached  this  size,  and  still  greater  differences  in  the  appear- 
ances of  the  different  breeds  at  this  age.  The  great  egg  layers — 
Leghorns,  Hamburghs,  etc. — had  to  be  kept  too  long;  Brahmas, 
Cochins,  etc.,  looked  sprawley  and  skeleton-like;  a  cross  between 
the  two  matured  rapidly  and  looked  "  splendid/'  as  the  little  girls 
say. 


IN   THE   POULTRY   YARD.  1 65 


b 


ermm. 


LL  during  the  summer  and  fall  we  never  saw  any  parasites 
on  our  chickens,  though  perhaps  this  was  because  we 
did  not  look  for  them.  One  day,  however,  we  were 
horrified  to  see  a  number  of  lice  crawling  over  the  eggs  of  a  hen 
that  had  left  her  nest  for  feed.  The  hen  had  been  set  about  the 
end  of  January,  so  that  the  weather  was  quite  cold  and  the  fowl 
did  not  seem  to  use  the  dust  bath  as  freely  as  during  warmer 
weather.  When  we  caught  the  hen  and  examined  her  she  pre- 
sented a  sorry  sight ;  lice  all  over.     What  was  to  be  done  ? 

First  of  all,  we  put  the  hen  in  a  barrel  with  a  little  fine  straw, 
for  the  present,  and  placed  her  in  another  building.  The  eggs 
were  then  removed  fi-om  the  nest  one  by  one,  wiped,  and  })ut  in  a 
clean  basket.  Fortunately  we  had  another  hen  just  ready  to  sit. 
She  was  carefully  examined,  no  lice  were  found,  and  so  we  placed 
the  eggs  under  her.  The  old  nest,  box  and  all,  was  then  taken 
away,  carried  to  an  open  place,  dusted  with  sulphur  and  set  on 
fire.  When  lliat  fire  died  out  there  were  no  lice  in  that  nest,  and 
the  slightly  charred  box  was  as  good  as  new. 

Our  attention  was  next  given  to  the  hen.  She  was  carefiilly  dusted 
with  insect  powder  and  returned  to  the  barrel,  a  fresh  setting  of  eggs 
being  placed  under  her.  Next  day  she  was  again  dusted,  fed  and 
placed  in  a  clean  barrel  with  clean  straw.  She  was  too  weak  to 
make  much  resistance  to  these  changes,  and  settled  down  on  tlie 
eggs  very  peaceably.  The  barrel  in  which  she  was  first  placed  was 
carried  out  doors,  the  straw  dusted  with  sulphur  and  set  on  fire. 
We  had  the  most  orthodox  faith  in  purification  by  fire  and  brim- 
stone.* 

*  A  recent  writer  ex^^resses  a  douhr  in  re<;anl  to  the  efBcacy  ofsulpliur,  but  as 
he  tells  us  to  ^  put  two  or  three  pounds  of  brimstone  or  sulpluir  in  an  iron  pot, 
in  such  a  way  as  not  to  endan<;er  the  buildin<; ;  apply  a  match  ;  shut  it  [th« 


l66  COMMON    SENSE 

After  the  third  dusting  the  hen  seemed  to  be  quite  free  from 
parasites,  but  still  weak.  We  knew,  liowever,  that  the  powder 
would  not  injure  the  eggs  of  the  vermin,  and  so  in  a  few  days  we 
might  expect  a  fresh  brood.  We  therefore  kept  dusting  and  feed- 
ing plenty  of  nourishing  and  easily  digested  food — oat-meal  mush, 
meat  scraps,  milk,  etc.  The  hen  throve,  and  we  soon  had  the  up- 
fper  hand  of  the  vermin.  As,  however,  it  would  have  been  asking 
too  much  of  her  to  sit  double  time,  we  gave  her  half  a  dozen  cluck- 
ens,  and  placed  her  eggs  under  a  fresh  hen.  We  now  greased  her 
with  a  mixture  of  lard  and  sulphur.  This  did  not  injure  the  little 
chickens,  but  might  have  injured  the  eggs.  She  was  not  troubled 
with  parasites  after  that. 

This  incident  taught  us  a  lesson.  After  that  we  always  exam- 
ined our  fowls  with  a  special  eye  to  lice.  It  is  true  that  we  rarely 
find  them,  but  it  is  also  true  that  hens  are  at  all  times  liable  to 
suffer  from  them  if  they  get  weak  and  unhealthy.  They  then  ne- 
glect to  take  their  dust  bath  regularly  and  thoroughly,  and  although 
I  am  no  believer  in  spontaneous  generation,  yet  I  am  pretty  sure 
that  lice  will  make  their  appearance  if  the  hens  fall  off  in  health 
and  strength. 

The  hen  that  gave  us  so  much  trouble  was  a  pure  Light  Brahma 
that  had  been  recently  bought,  and  in  every  case  in  which  lice  have 
made  their  appearance  in  my  yards  it  has  been  in  the  case  of  fowls 
brought  from  other  places.  And  1  have  found  them  on  birds  that 
I  have  obtained  from  dealers  of  high  standing.     With  these  men, 

house  ?]  closely,  and  let  it  burn  slowly,"  we  conclude  that  he  has  never  tried  it. 
Sulphur  In  large  quantities  cannot  be  set  on  fire  by  applying  a  match,  as  those 
who  have  used  it  for  fumigating  or  bleaching  purposes  know  very  well.  The 
old  bee-keepers  used  to  dip  heavy  paper  or  stout  shavings  in  melted  sulphur, 
and  burn  these,  and  this  is  a  very  good  plan.  Or  the  sulphur  may  be  thrown  on 
a  small  heap  of  shavings  or  straw,  and  when  the  latter  is  tired  the  sulphur  Avill 
burn  too.  The  plan  adopted  by  bleachers  is,  however,  the  best  and  safest.  Take 
a  heavy  iron  vessel,  the  shallower  the  better,  and  put  the  sulphur  in  it.  Heat 
this  over  a  fire  (out  of  doors,  of  course)  until  the  sulphur  melts  and  easily  takes 
fire  on  the  approach  of  a  light.  Then  place  the  vessel  in  the  house  and  let  it 
burn.  Sulphurous  acid  or  the  gas  from  burning  sulphur  is  the  most  deadly 
agent  known.  Persian  insect  powder,  carbolic  acid,  and  other  destroyers  of  the 
lower  forms  of  life,  are  nowhere  at  all  compared  with  it.  It  is  the  only  thing 
that  is  relied  upon  by  the  National  Board  of  Health  as  a  perfect  destroyer  of  the 
germs  of  yellow  fever,  and  if  properly  applied,  no  living  thing  -whether  it  be 
bird  or  beast,  insect  or  disease  germ— can  possibly  escape.  But  we  must  use 
enough  of  it,  and  the  sulphur  must  be  burned,  not  merely  vaporized. 


IN   THE   POULTRY   YARD.  1 67 

however,  space  is  a  matter  of  great  moment,  and  they  are  apt  to 
keep  their  birds  confined  in  close  quarters.  And  if  Hce  once  get  a 
foothold  under  such  conditions  they  are  apt  to  spread.  Whether 
or  not  it  would  be  possible  to  absolutely  stamp  out  lice  from  any 
yard  I  do  not  know.  I  have  come  very  near  it  several  times,  so 
near  that  the  most  careful  search  failed  to  show  a  single  parasite 
on  any  of  the  birds;  but  when  cold  weather  came,  and  any  of  the 
birds  failed  to  take  their  regular  bath,  lice  would  again  appear. 

The  best  remedy  that  I  have  found  is  insect  powder,  and  where 
this  is  not  handy,  lard  and  sulphur  may  be  used  on  laying  hens, 
whose  eggs  are  not  to  be  hatched,  as  in  this  case  there  can  be  no 
objection  to  it.  It  is  a  general  belief,  however,  that  grease  will 
prevent  eggs  from  hatching.  I  have  not  tried  it  myself,  and  as 
there  seems  to  be  some  doubt  on  the  subject,  I  have  not  cared  to 
risk  it  on  valuable  eggs.  Major  Cock,  in  his  little  book,  published 
about  1843,  tells  us  that  he  has  "known  eggs  laid  in  Hamburg  to 
be  hatched  in  New  Jersey,  by  covering  them  with  lard  and  taking 
care  not  to  handle  them  roughly."  This  is  contrary  to  the  general 
opinion.  But  for  sitting  hens  the  Persian  insect  powder  answers 
admirably. 

Mixing  sulphur  with  the  soft  food  given  to  fowls  Is  also  not  only 
an  excellent  preventive  of  lice,  but  a  capital  tonic. 

But  the  great  means  of  preventing  vermin  is  good  health  and 
plenty  of  dry  earth  for  a  dust  bath.  So  long  as  fowls  can  roll  in 
dry  ashes  or  earth,  lice  cannot  multiply. 

There  is  but  one  kind  of  parasite  on  fowls,  and  this  is  peculiar 
to  gallinaceous  birds.  It  cannot  thrive  on  other  animals — not  even 
on  ducks  or  geese,  far  less  on  horses,  cows  or  pigs.  I  have  often 
heard  it  said  that  if  j^oultry  are  kept  in  a  stable  the  horses  will  get 
lousy.  This  is  very  likely  to  be  the  case,  because  any  man  who 
will  keep  his  poultry  in  his  stable  is  probably  so  slipshod  that  his 
horses  will  run  down  in  health  and  so  become  lousy.  But  the  lice 
from  the  hens  will  never  remain  on  horses  or  cows. 


1 68  COMMON    SENSE 


©nemics. 

E  lost  but  few  chickens  by  disease,  but  the  battle 
against  winged  and  four-footed  enemies  was  constant. 
Large  hawks  took  off  some  of  our  best  hens — hens  that 
we  thought  were  perfectly  safe,  on  account  of  their  size  and 
strength.  Cats  would  come  miles  to  steal  our  little  chickens,  and 
weasels  and  skunks  killed  a  few.  But  the  greatest  enemy  was  the 
common  rat,  and  he  was,  also,  the  most  diflPicult  to  ciicumvent,  if 
we  except  certain  bipeds  who  were  evidently  i)ossessed  of  all  the 
cunning  and  none  of  the  honesty,  llial  ought  to  distinguish  hu- 
manity. 

The  hawks  were  not  very  troublesome,  that  is  to  say,  they 
did  not  kill  many.  We  shot  them  without  mercy,  whenever  we 
had  a  chance,  but  I  must  confess  they  did  not  always  give  us  a 
good  chance.  As  for  traps  on  poles  and  all  such  contrivances,  we 
found  them  perfectly  useless,  so  far  as  these  marauders  were  con- 
cerned, though  we  sometimes  caught  birds  that  we  would  rather 
have  seen  escape.  I,  therefore,  had  them  all  taken  down  and  de- 
pended upon  constant  vigilance  and  a  good  breech-loader.  I 
chose  a  breech-loader,  because  it  could  stand  with  the  cartridges 
ready  prepared  and  tied  in  a  bag  to  the  trigger  guard,  and  thus  be 
almost  as  ready  as  a  loaded  muzzle-loader,  and  the  latter,  when 
standing  in  a  barn,  is  altogether  too  dangerous.  I  kept  a  muzzle- 
loader  at  first,  but,  on  one  occasion,  a  carpenter,  who  was  at  work 
on  the  place,  picked  it  up,  discharged  it  through  pure  meddlesome- 
ness and  nearly  killed  a  fellow  workman.  After  that,  I  adopted 
the  breech-loader.  I  generally  used  very  heavy  shot,  so  that 
we  might  be  able  to  do  execution  at  long  ranges,  and  I  studied 
carefully  the  rules  for  "  loading  so  as  to  kill "  laid  down  in  a 
little  work  called  "  Shooting  on  the  Wing,"  and  found  them  ad- 
mirable,  so   that   the  hawks    and   crows    began    to    consider   our 


IN   THE    POULTRY   VARD.  169 

locality  rather  unhealthy.  Occasionally,  when  a  hawk  was  seen 
sailing  over  the  place  at  a  great  height,  we  fired  a  shot  at  him  from 
a  rifle,  taking  good  care  that  the  bullet  went  in  a  direction  where 
it  would  do  no  damage.  We  never  succeeded  in  hitting  a  hawk 
in  this  way,  but  they  did  not  seem  to  like  the  whiz  of  the  bullet, 
and  speedily  took  their  departure  for  safer  regions. 

'J'hey  did  not  seem  to  like  to  attack  the  poultry  in  the  small 
breeding  coops,  probably  taking  the  coops  for  some  kind  of 
trap.  Amongst  the  large  flocks  we  placed  a  few  game  cocks,  and 
the  hawks  did  not  trouble  us  much  after  that. 

Only  on  one  occasion  did  the  pole  traps  serve  a  good  purpose. 
One  morning  in  the  fall  we  were  awakened  by  a  tremendous  com- 
motion in  the  yard — dogs  barking,  ducks  quacking,  hens  cack- 
ling, and  all  the  signs  of  some  terrible  calamity.  On  looking  out  of 
the  window  I  saw  that  one  of  our  pole-traps  had  caught  a  large  owl 
by  the  feet,  and  his  cries  and  motions  had  attracted  an  immense 
number  of  crows,  hawks,  etc.  Hastily  donning  a  few  garments, 
I  seized  my  breech-loader  and  a  belt  of  cartridges,  and  rushed 
down  stairs.  Getting  quietly  into  the  barn,  I  opened  a  narrow 
side  door  and  commenced  firing.  At  every  shot  I  brought  down 
a  hawk  or  a  crow,  and  at  first  the  firing  di^l  not  seem  to  deter 
those  that  were  left.  Even  after  I  had  picked  off  a  hawk  from 
within  a  few  feet  of  the  owl,  tumbling  him  head  over  heels  to  the 
ground,  aiiotlier  would  make  a  swoo[),  just  as  if  nothing  had  hap- 
pened. Of  course,  I  took  care  not  to  shoot  too  close  to  the  owl, 
and  in  a  short  time  the  ground  was  strewed  with  birds.  Then 
they  began  to  get  waiy.  The  ciows  were  the  first  to  abandon 
the  field,  and  after  iheni  the  hawks  went  too.  As  it  was,  how- 
ever. I  h.ad  a  [)iece  of  rare  spoit,  and  revenged  myself  on  enemies 
that,  otherwise,  I  never  could  have  reached. 

I  have  heard  it  said,  by  old  poultry  kee[)ers,  that  hawks  will 
not  attack  jioultry,  if  there  are  guinea  hens  around.  I  know  no- 
thing of  the  accuracy  of  this  statement,  but  it  certainly  is  "  im[)or- 
tant  if  true." 

Against  most  four-footed  vermin,  including  cats,  we  found  that  a 
good  Scotch  terrier  was  the  best   defence.     We  had  cats  of  our 


lyo  COMMON   SENSE 

own,  and  they  were  never  injured,  neither  did  they  attack  the  little 
chickens,  but  strange  cats  generally  came  to  a  speedy  end  at  the 
hands,  or,  rather,  the  teeth,  of  our  dogs.  And  it  was  curious  to 
notice  how  thoroughly  acquainted  the  dogs  and  fowls  became.  If 
a  strange  dog  came  into  the  yards,  there  was  a  commotion  at  once, 
and  all  the  hens  were  up  in  arms,  but  our  own  dogs  might  go 
about  amongst  the  flocks,  and  quite  close  to  a  hen  and  her  brood 
and  never  disturb  them.  Weasels  and  skunks  were  not  very  com- 
mon. The  latter  is  said  to  be  a  very  useful  insectivorous  animal, 
but  it  is  out  of  place  in  a  poultry  yard.  It  kills  chickens,  and 
should,  therefore,  be  killed.  When  we  had  any  indication  that  a 
skunk  was  around  (and  our  noses  were  a  pretty  good  indication  of 
such  an  occurrence)  a  little  vigilance  and  a  charge  of  snipe  shot 
generally  prevented  all  damage. 

But,  for  all  four-footed  creatures,  the  best  preventive  is  a  good 
trap.  The  trap  must,  of  course,  take  them  alive,  or  it  will  be  liable 
to  destroy  some  of  the  animals  belonging  to  the  place,  and  it  must 
be  large  enough  to  catch  a  small  dog,  and  sufficiently  sensitive  to 
be  sprung  by  a  weasel.  I,  therefoie,  had  four  large  box  traps 
made,  and  took  great  pains  with  the  tables  and  triggers,  making 
the  latter  myself  out  of  fine  tempered  steel.  These  traps  were  dis- 
tributed about  the  place,  baited  with  a  little  meat.  At  first  we 
caught  our  own  dogs  and  cats,  but  they  soon  learned  to  give  the 
traps  a  wide  berth;  the  hens  Avere  not  so  easily  taught,  and  would 
l)ersist  in  being  caught,  when  the  traps  were  set  during  the  day. 
We,  therefore,  set  them  only  at  night,  and  in  them  we  caught, 
strange  dogs,  cats,  rats,  weasels,  squirrels  and  snakes,  but  never  a 
skunk. 

But  although  we  occasionally  caught  a  rat  in  this  way,  these  ro- 
dents were  too  cunning  to  be  caught  in  any  numbers  in  such  a  con- 
trivance. And  as  poison  was  out  of  the  question,  we  found  it  very 
difficult  to  guard  against  their  depredations.  Of  course  the  dogs 
did  a  great  deal  to  protect  the  chickens,  but  they  could  not  be 
everywhere,  and  at  night  the  rats  would  actually  take  the  young 
chickens  from  under  the  mother's  wings.  We  felt  ready  to  adopt 
any  remedy,  however  cruel.    In  fact,  no  one  can  look  at  the  mean, 


IN   THE    POULTRY   YARD.  I7I 

cruel,  cunning  and  ferocious  face  of  a  rat  and  hesitate  about  de- 
stroying liim  by  any  possible  means.  Tlie  loss  of  an  occasional 
chicken  would  always  rouse  up  my  ire,  and  after  such  occasions  I 
would  vow  vengeance  against  the  whole  race.  A  few  would  be 
shot;  one  or  two  would  be  trapped  ;  but  the  work  was  too  slow 
and  uncertain,  and  we  would  fall  back  upon  the  dogs  and  cats. 
Finally  the  rats  increased  to  such  an  extent,  and  became  so  bold, 
that  one  night  they  carried  off  an  entire  brood  of  my  most  valuable 
chickens.     I  thought,  then,  that  it  was  lime  to  do  something. 

I  then  built  a  small  house,  8  feet  square  and  6  feet  high,  with 
just  enough  roof  to  shed  the  rain.  It  was  made  of  inch  stuff,  and 
had  a  door  but  no  windows.  There  \\  as  a  good  floor,  covered 
with  old  tui  roofing  that  I  got  for  almost  nothing.  The  tin  was 
carried  about  six  inches  up  the  sides. 

This  house  was  filled  with  straw,  in  which  was  placed  some 
wheat,  corn,  etc.,  and  a  handful  or  two  of  meal  was  also  scattered 
over  the  straw.  On  every  side  was  a  hole  3  inches  in  diameter, 
w^iich  entered  just  above  the  tin.  Four  men  could  easily  move 
this  house  to  any  part  of  the  grounds.  The  first  night  we  placed 
it  near  the  coops  in  which  the  young  chickens  were  kept  and 
awaited  results.  The  rats  soon  found  it  out,  and,  as  we  could 
easily  see  by  their  tracks,  made  it  their  home.  A  remorseless  war 
was  then  carried  on  against  them  in  every  other  part  of  the  prem- 
ises. Tobacco  smoke  was  blown  into  their  holes;  their  breeding 
places  were  disturbed;  their  runs  were  filled  with  broken  glass,  and 
life  made  as  uncomfortable  for  them  as  i)ossible  in  every  place  ex- 
cept "  Rat  Castle."  There  they  were  left  in  peace  and  quietness. 
At  the  end  of  a  week,  however,  we  went  over  the  ground  again, 
and  drove  tobacco  smoke  into  every  hole  we  could  find.  This 
was  done  by  means  of  a  piece  of  rubber  hose  and  one  of  the  most 
powerful  "  smokers "  used  by  bee-keepers.  With  one  of  these 
smokers  and  a  few  feet  of  rubber  tubing  we  could,  in  a  few  min- 
utes, fill  all  the  space  between  the  floor  and  the  ground,  and  be- 
tween the  wall  and  the  lathing  of  any  building,  and  drive  the  smoke 
out  at  holes  twenty  feet  away.  The  effect  of  this  tobacco  smoke 
was  most  surprising.     We  know  of  no  animal  that  can  stand  it. 


172  COMMON    SENSE 

The  rats  and  mice  left  the  premises  on  the  double  quick,  and  many 
of  them  fell  a  prey  to  the  dogs  and  cats  that  were  on  the  watch^ 
keenly  enjoying  the  fun.  But  no  tobacco  smoke  had  ever  been 
allowed  to  profane  "  Rat  Castle,"  and  thither  they  all  ran.  We 
could  hear  them  fighting  and  squealing  inside,  and  when  we  got 
tlirough  with  the  other  buildings  we  just  closed  the  four  little  doors 
of  the  house  and  they  were  all  prisoners.  Then  we  changed  our 
tactics.  Instead  of  tobacco  we  used  sulphur,  and  by  means  of  a 
simple  furnace,  made  out  of  an  old  pot,  with  a  wooden  cover,  and 
using  our  "smoker"  as  a  bellows,  we  soon  filled  the  little  house 
with  sulplmrous  acid — a  most  deadly  gas.  Being  determined  to 
make  thorough  work  of  it,  we  blew  in  gas  at  the  bottom  until  it 
l)assed  out  in  a  steady  stream  at  the  top.  We  then  closed  every 
opening  up  tightly,  and  left  the  house  till  next  morning.  When 
we  opened  the  house  next  day  we  found  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
seven  rats  in  it — every  one  dead! !  I  thought,  then,  that  this  piece 
of  work  paid  me  for  the  expense  and  trouble  of  the  house,  etc. 
It  was  nearly  a  year  before  another  rat  was  seen  about  the  prem- 
ises, and  we  have  never  been  badly  troubled  with  them  since. 

The  reason  for  building  the  hou&e  was  this  :  If  I  had  killed  the 
rats  in  their  holes  and  runways  in  tht  barns  and  outhouses,  which 
I  might  perhaps  have  done  by  meanb  of  sulphurous  acid  gas,  they 
would  have  putrefied  where  we  could  not  get  at  them,  and  this 
would  have  been  insufferable.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  had  driven 
them  out  with  tobacco,  and  had  not  provided  a  retreat  for  them 
we  might  have  killed  a  few,  but  the  greater  part  would  have  es- 
caped only  to  return  after  a  litde  while.  The  plan  that  I  adopted 
obviated  both  these  difficulties. 

My  reasons  for  covering  the  floor  and  a  few  inches  of  the  sides 
with  tin  was  this :  A  rat  will  never  gnaw  his  way  out  into  the 
light;  but  if  the  floor  had  been  left  unprotected  they  would  have 
cut  their  way  down,  and  would  have  burrowed  in  the  ground  and 
underneath  the  floor.  When  the  final  act  in  the  tragedy  came  these 
rats  might  have  escaped.  As  it  was,  we  made  a  clean  sweep,  and 
destroyed  or  drove  away  every  one.  One  hundred  and  fifty-seven 
rats  make  quite  a  pile.     What  could    we  do  with  them?     Bury 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  1 73 

them  ?  That  would  be  waste.  We  passed  tliem  through  our  meat 
chopper  and  cut  tliem  up,  bones,  meat,  hair  and  all  Since  rats 
are  the  great  trichina-carriers,  it  would  have  been  dangerous  to 
feed  this  meat  to  dogs,  cats  or  pigs,  but  to  fowls  it  is  perfectly- 
harmless.  But  to  make  sure,  we  boiled  it  thorouglily  in  our  large 
pot,  exposing  it  in  four  lots  to  a  boiling  temperature  for  four  hours. 
At  the  end  of  that  time  every  trichina,  if  there  Avere  any  present, 
must  have  been  as  dead  as  the  rats  themselves,  so  we  just  made 
the  soup  into  mush  with  a  little  corn  meal  and  fed  it  to  the  chick- 
ens. Tlie  rats  had  eaten  our  chickens,  and  now  the  chickens  ate 
the  rats — a  just  retribution. 

As  we  have  already  stated,  from  that  day  to  this  we  have  never 
been  troubled  with  rats,  and  the  "  rat-house,"  as  we  call  it,  serves 
very  well  occasionally  for  an  extra  coop ;  of  late,  however,  Ave  have 
been  told  that  one  or  two  rats  have  been  seen  about  the  place.  If 
they  get  troublesome  we  will  set  "  Rat  Castle  "  in  operation  again. 

When  it  is  necessary  to  use  i)oison  instead  of  other  means,  great 
care  should  be  exercised  in  the  selection  of  the  kind  of  poison,  and  in 
the  methods  of  using  it.  Arsenic,  whether  in  the  ordinary  form  of 
"white  arsenic,"  or  in  the  various  patent  mixtures  that  are  sold,  such 
as  "  Rough  on  Rats,"  should  never  be  used.  The  reason  is  very  sim- 
ple and  obvious :  Arsenic,  no  matter  into  what  combination  or  form 
it  may  pass,  is  always  poisonous.  A  rat  or  a  mouse  ])oisoned  with 
arsenic  will,  if  eaten  by  a  cat,  dog  or  chicken,  still  act  as  virulendy  as 
ever,  and  cause  sickness  or  death.  There  is  another  })oison,  how- 
ever— phosphorus — which  loses  its  poisonous  qualities  when  it  be- 
comes oxidized,  and  hence  is  far  safer.  Phosphorus  is  poisonous  only 
in  the  i)ure  state;  when  in  combination  it  is  generally  harmless,  and 
frequently  very  wholesome.  There  is  as  much  phosphorus  in  a 
pound  of  bones  as  would  poison  a  whole  flock  of  chickens,  but 
when  fed  in  the  form  of  bone  or  phosphate  of  lime,  it  is  quite  the 
reverse  of  hurtful.  Indeed,  when  bones  are  properly  dissolved 
they  form  one  of  the  most  pleasant  and  wholesome  drinks  for 
human  beings,  as  is  seen  in  Horsford's  Acid  Phosphates,  so  gener 
ally  used. 

Now,  when   phosphorus  is  eaten  by  an  animal  it  soon  becomes 


174  COMMON    SENSE 

oxidized  and  rendered  harmless,  but  when  arsenic  is  so  eaten  it 
never  loses  its  virulent  character.*  Phosphorus  paste,  properly- 
prepared  for  poisoning  vermin,  is  sold  by  most  chemists,  and  the 
recipe  for  preparing  it  may  be  found  in  any  good  book  of  receipts. 

*  An  account  of  the  different  poisons,  and  the  proper  antidotes  for  them,  when 
accidentally  swallowed  by  human  beings,  or  by  the  lower  animals,  will  be  found 
in  •'  What  to  Do  in  Case  of  Accident."  The  book  is  issued  by  the  same  house 
that  publishes  this  volume. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  1 75 


(Earls  Cl)ickens  anb  ^iglj-Priccb  (Egg©. 

O  get  in  December  those  eggs  tliat  are  usually  laid  in 
May,  is  one  of  the  oldest  problems  in  the  "  Chicken 
Business."  If  we  could  only  get  the  hens  to  accom- 
modate us  in  this  respect,  the  making  of  a  fortune  would  be  an 
easy  thing.  But  out  of  every  i,ooo  eggs  that  are  produced  during 
the  year  by  an  ordmary  flock,  it  will  be  found  that 

45  are    produced   in  January. 

56  "  "  "  February. 

132  "  "  "  March. 

176  "  "  "  April. 

150  "  "  "  May. 

96  "  "  "  June. 

87  "  "  "  July. 

54  "  "  "  August. 

Ss  "  "  "  September. 

84  "  "  "  October. 

26  "  "  "  November. 

II  "  "  "  December. 

Consequently,  while  eggs  bring  50  cents  per  dozen  in  Decem- 
ber, they  fall  in  price  to  18  to  20  cents  in  May.  What  can  be  done 
to  effect  a  change  in  this  res[)ect  ? 

At  first  sight,  it  would  seem  that  the  advent  of  cold  weather  is  the 
chief  cause  of  the  stopi)age  in  the  pro(hiction  of  eggs,  and  to  test 
this,  Reaumur  kept  his  hens  in  artificially  warmed  houses  and  tried 
in  this  way  to  get  eggs  in  winter.  But  he  failed.  We  might  have 
expected  this  when  we  observe  that  one  of  the  coldest  months, 
March,  is  also  one  of  the  most  prolific.  Others  have  hoped  by 
stimulating  food  to  make  the  hens  keep  up  egg-laying.     We  have 


176  COMMON    SENSE 

tried  it,  and  met  with  a  small  measure  of  success,  but  food  alone 
will  not  accomplisli  a  great  deal. 

Others,  again,  depend  upon  the  breed.  It  is  well  known  that 
some  breeds — Leghorns,  Hamburglis,  etc. — are  known  as  summer 
layers,  while  the  Asiatic  fowls — Brahmas,  Cochins,  etc. — are  win- 
ter layers.  There  is  a  good  deal  in  this,  but  not  enough  to  turn 
the  tables. 

Others  try  to  get  eggs  in  winter,  by  raising  very  early  chickens, 
and  this  is  the  most  efficient  method  of  all,  provided  other  con- 
ditions are  favorable. 

The  fact  is,  that  it  is  useless  to  depend  upon  any  one  or  two  of 
these  conditions;  we  must  bring  them  all  into  play  if  we  would 
have  eggs  in  winter.  We  must  have  hens  of  a  suitable  breed; 
they  must  be  properly  housed  and  fed,  and  they  must  be  of  the 
proper  age.  A  failure  in  any  one  of  these  conditions  will  be  fatal 
to  success.  These  three  things  are  like  food,  clothing  and  air 
to  a  human  being.  No  amount  of  clothing  will  make  up  for 
want  of  food,  and  no  amount  of  food  will  enable  us  to  do  without 
air.  We  must  have  all  three  together  if  we  would  keep  in  good 
health. 

As  regards  the  best  breed,  I  had  long  ago  made  up  my  mind  that 
a  cross  between  the  Hamburgh  or  Leghorn  and  some  heavy  Asiatic 
fowl  was  altogether  the  most  promising  in  this  respect,  and  in 
making  up  my  breeding  coops,  I  had  this  in  view,  though  not 
quite  as  clearly  as  I  would  have  done,  if  at  that  time  I  had  had 
more  experience.  When  I  came  to  fairly  face  the  [)roblem  of 
producing  eggs  in  December,  I  mated  White  Leghorn  and 
Spangled  Hamburgh  cocks  with  good  hens  having  a  large  propor- 
tion of  Asiatic  blood.  Some  of  the  latter  were  pure  Brahma, 
others  were  apparently  Cochin  crossed  with  Dominiques,  and  I 
found  that  I  got  better  results  from  these  crosses  than  from  any 
other  breed. 

Raising  chickens  in  January  is  troublesome  work,  and  unless  the 
poultry  breeder  has  good  facilities  and  considerable  experience, 
the  outgo  will  exceed  the  income.  Of  this  I  was  well  assured,  but 
I  resolved  to  try  the  experiment. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  1 77 

There  were  plenty  of  liens  wanting  to  sit.  After  their  summer 
crials  and  autumn  laying  they  had  stopped  producing  eggs,  and 
wanted  to  take  the  next  step  in  hen-life.  So  we  cleaned  out  the 
rooms  that  we  had  formerly  used  for  hatching,  and  })acked  into  it 
AS  many  nest-boxes  as  it  would  hold.  We  succeeded  in  placing 
12  boxes,  containing  48  hens,  but  as  the  weather  was  cold,  we 
gave  each  hen  only  10  eggs,  making  480  in  all.  This  was  not 
quite  enough,  so  I  placed  10  more  boxes  in  different  parts  of  the 
stable,  and  filled  them  all  with  hens.  With  these  40  hens  we 
expected  to  have  some  trouble,  but  we  thought,  that,  as  they  did 
not  have  much  temptation  to  run  about  at  this  time  of  the  year,  we 
might  be  able  to  control  them. 

It  was  during  the  progress  of  this  experiment  that  I  found  out  the 
mistake  I  had  made  in  not  taking  better  care  of  my  breeding  hens, 
so  I  was  obliged  to  take  such  eggs  as  I  could  get.  By  making  tem- 
porary arrangements  with  greenhouse  sash,  and  by  selecting  some 
of  the  best  laying  hens  from  the  general  flock,  and  putting  them 
with  suitable  cocks,  I  managed  to  secure  eggs  enough  to  gradually 
till  all  die  nests;  but  of  course  the  hens  were  not  all  set  at  the 
same  time,  and  some  of  them  had  been  brooding  for  some  time  be- 
fore they  were  set.  The  latter  circumstance  was  unfortunate,  as 
hens  that  have  brooded  for  some  time  before  eggs  are  placed  un- 
der them  are  apt  to  leave  their  broods  too  soon.  Our  success  in 
managing  the  sitting  hens  was,  however,  very  fair.  They  were  at- 
tended to  every  morning;  fed  and  watered,  and  then  shut  up  until 
iiext  morning.  We  had  three  lots  which  had  to  be  let  out  at  differ- 
ent times;  the  chickens  of  the  first  lot  was  due  the  first  week  in 
February;  those  of  the  second  lot  during  the  second  week,  and 
those  of  the  third  lot  during  the  third  week.  It  made  no  difference 
whether  the  hens  of  the  same  lots  returned  to  the  same  nests  or 
not,  but  it  was  important  not  to  mix  the  lots.  We  had  very  little 
trouble,  however.  It  took  about  two  hours  to  two  hours  and  a 
naif  every  morning  to  attend  to  the  sitting  hens,  but  all  this  time 
was  not  occupied.  After  the  hens  had  been  driven  into  the  outer 
room,  the  doors  of  the  latter  were  locked,  and  the  attendant  had  a 
good  half  hour  to  devote  to  other  wojk  while  the  liens  took  -their 


lyS  COMMON    SENSE 

food  and  drink,  and  dusted  themselves  in  the  dry  earth  and  ashes 
provided  for  them. 

Our  first  httle  chicks  found  themselves  in  a  "cold,  cold  world" 
when  they  burst  their  shells.  But  the  old  hens  kept  them  warm, 
and  during  the  first  thirty-six  liours  they  were  kept  shut  up  under 
their  mothers,  the  only  attention  that  the  hens  got  being  the  re- 
moval of  the  empty  shells.  At  this  time  of  the  year  one  of  the 
greatest  mistakes  that  can  be  made  is  to  get  the  chicks  out  of  the 
nest  too  soon.  They  need  warmth  and  rest,  rather  than  food  and 
exercise,  for  when  they  leave  the  shell  they  have  just  had  a  full  feed 
of  the  richest  food,  and,  as  any  one  can  see,  nature  did  not  intend 
that  they  should  run  about  immediately  after  leaving  the  shell. 
Partridges  and  some  other  birds  do  this,  but  chickens  never.  We 
have  lost  many  chickens  by  meddling  with  them  too  soon;  never 
a  one  by  letting  it  alone.  On  the  second  day,  however,  we  took 
the  hens  off  the  nest,  placed  the  chicks  on  the  floor,  and  offered 
them  cracked  wheat  and  warm  milk.  The  latter  they  drank  quite 
greedily,  and  the  wheat  they  soon  learned  to  pick  up.  After  they 
had  been  fed  they  were  returned  to  the  old  nest  for  the  present. 

The  weather  at  this  time  was  very  cold — occasionally  down  to 
zero — and  it  was  hard  work  to  keep  the  little  things  Avarm.  We 
had  88  hens  sitting;  these  would  probably  produce  600  chickens, 
and  I  intended  to  give  each  hen  10  chickens,  so  that  60  brooding 
cooi)S  would  be  needed.  I  found  that  the  coops  we  had  used  dur- 
ing the  fall  would  take  up  too  much  room,  and,  as  they  would  re- 
quire a  house  to  cover  them,  I  might  as  well  divide  the  house  itself 
up  into  coops.  Having  all  this  in  view,  I  had  put  up  a  rough 
board  shed,  40  feet  long  and  10  feet  wide.  It  was  just  high 
enough  to  allow  one  to  pass  easily  up  the  middle.  The  roof  was 
of  matched  boards,  except  where  six  greenhouse  sash  were  inserted 
to  admit  light.  The  floor  was  divided  off  as  follows:  A  walk  16 
inches  wide  was  left  through  the  middle,  and  the  spaces  on  each 
side  were  divided  into  30  compartments  each,  making  60  in 
all.  The  divisions  were  simply  boards  14  inches  high,  and  the 
compartments  were  covered  with  wire  netting  of  i-inch  mesh. 
Four  stout  stakes  were  driven  into  the  floor  at  the  end  of  each  di- 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  1 79 

viding  board  and  next  the  middle  passage.  These  stakes  held  the 
dividing  boards  in  place,  and  the  end  boards  stood  between  them 
and  could  be  easily  lifted  out;  in  fact,  they  formed  doors  to  the 
compartments.  To  keep  the  house  warm  I  banked  it  up  with 
leaves,  which  were  kept  in  place  by  brush,  and  I  put  in  an  old 
cook  stove  with  a  lot  of  old  pipe  which  ran  the  entire  length  of  the 
building.  This  kept  out  frost,  even  in  very  cold  weather.  At 
night  the  sashes  were  covered  w^ith  old  matting.  1 

As  soon,  therefore,  as  we  had  a  few  clutches  out  \ve  arranged 
this  brooding  house,  started  the  fire,  and  got  it  well  warmed  up. 
In  this  we  were  aided  by  a  few  days  of  bright  sunshine,  so  that 
when,  one  afternoon,  we  put  ten  hens  with  their  chicks,  amounting 
to  lOo  in  all,  in  ten  of  the  com[)artments,  they  seemed  to  be  enjoy- 
ing a  summer  atmosphere.  The  broods  now  began  to  come  out 
very  rapidly,  and  we  soon  had  one  side  of  the  house  full. 

The  care  of  these  chickens  involved  a  good  deal  of  labor.  It  is 
true  that  it  was  not  labor  of  a  very  hard  kind,  nor  did  it  require  a 
great  deal  of  intelligence  to  follow  the  rules  which  I  laid  down. 
We  had  very  few  sick  chickens;  indeed,  we  lost  more  by  accidents 
than  by  sickness.  To  give  an  historical  account  of  our  method  of 
management  would  occupy  too  much  space,  but  the  following  will 
be  enough  to  guide  the  intelligent  reader. 

The  great  points  in  rearing  early  chickens  are  suitable  food  and 
warmth.  'J'he  latter  condition  involves  dryness  as  a  special  feature ; 
animals  that  are  kept  dry  can  resist  a  good  deal  of  cold,  but  if  once 
the  feathers  get  wet  and  matted  the  bird  becomes  cold  and  chilled, 
and  it  does  not  take  much  to  chill  the  life  out  of  a  young  chicken. 
To  keep  the  chickens  dry  we  found  to  be  one  of  our  most  difficult 
tasks.  If  a  saucer  of  milk  or  water  wns  placed  in  the  coop  for' 
them  to  drink  they  were  sure  to  get  into  it,  and  the  hen  would 
upset  it  and  make  the  whole  comi)artment  wet  and  uncomfortable. 
The  poultry  stores  kee[)  on  hand  fountains  like  large  bird  fountains, 
by  which  this  difficulty  may  be  in  a  measure  avoided,  but  these 
fountains  are  too  exi)ensive,  are  difficult  to  clean,  and  where  milk 
is  used  they  require  too  much  to  fill  them.  So  fijr  milk  I  used 
saucers,  which  I  protectee!  with  a  netting  of  wire;  lor  water  I  used 


l8o  COMMON    SENSE 

large  soup  plates,  in  whicii  I  placed  an  inverted  bowl  filled  with 
water.  Tlie  bowl  was  first  filled  with  water,  the  plate  placed  on 
the  top,  and  the  whole  quickly  turned  over.  The  water  was  now 
retained  in  the  bowl  by  atmospheric  pressure,  and  gradually  de- 
scended as  the  chickens  consumed  it.  To  get  sufficient  depth  of 
water  in  the  plates  I  chii)ped  a  piece  out  of  the  edge  of  eacli  bowl. 

When  milk  was  used,  and  we  had  not  a  wire  protector  for 
the  saucer,  we  simply  inverted  a  small  bowl  and  placed  it  moutli 
down  in  the  latter. 

The  food  that  we  used  during  cola  Aveather,  was  plain,  but 
nutritious.  For  the  first  day  or  two,  cracked  wheat  given  dry  (see 
page  14  ),  and  milk  to  drink.  Then,  in  the  mornings,  tliey  had  a 
mixture  of  bran,  corn  meal  and  ground  oil-cake.  The  oil  meal 
was  thoroughly  scalded  with  boiling  water,  and  allowed  to  stand 
some  time,  when  it  formed  a  diickish  soup.  This  was  then  worked 
into  a  stiff  dough  with  a  mixture  of  equal  parts  of  bran  and  corn 
meal,  and  fed  to  the  chickens  in  small  lumps.  This  mixture  we 
found  to  be  exceedingly  nutritious.  As  the  chickens  had  no  access 
to  gravel,  I  had  a  small  quantity  washed  and  sifted,  and  we  kept  a 
little  wooden  tray  full  of  this  material  constantly  before  them. 
They  seemed  to  enjoy  picking  it. 

Every  day  we  gave  them  a  very  little  ment  and  some  finely 
chopped  cabbage.  For  both  tliey  were  very  greedy.  Cracked 
wheat  we  kept  before  them  all  the  time.  We  preferred  it  to  corn, 
though  it  cost  a  little  more.  On  this  feed  they  kept  in  good 
health  and  grew  rapidly. 

One  of  the  greatest  difiiculties  in  the  care  of  chickens  is  the 
watching  of  individuals.  It  is  impossible  to  give  attention  to  each 
single  bird ;  they  are  attended  to  in  small  flocks,  and  an  individual 
of  this  flock  may  get  quite  sick  before  even  a  very  faithful  atten- 
dant notices  it.  Still,  by  watchfulness,  a  good. deal  was  accom- 
plished, in  this  direction,  and  we  kept  two  or  three  old  and  very 
motherly  hens  for  the  express  purpose  of  taking  care  of  weak  and 
sickly  chickens.  About  half  of  those  that  we  transferred  to  these 
hens  came  through  all  right.  When  a  chicken  is  very  sick,  the 
most  profitable  and  merciful  course  is  to  kill  it  at  once. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  15 1 

The  plans  that  I  have  described  gave  us  better  results  tlian  I 
had  ever  liad  before  with  chickens  in  winter.  It  is  true,  that,  pre- 
viously, I  had  only  raised  a  few  clutches,  mere  for  experiment  than 
anything  else,  as  it  does  not  pay  to  fuss  with  one  brood  of 
chickens  in  winter.  It  is  just  as  easy  and  far  more  profitable  to 
attend  to  a  hundred. 

Out  of  880  eggs,  we  hatched  637  chickens  and  of  these  we 
brought  543  to  maturity.  In  April  and  May  they  were  worth  75 
cents  to  $1.00  per  pair,  making,  at  least,  $250.  The  food  had 
cost  very  little,  but  as  it  had  been  taken  from  the  general  stock, 
I  am  unable  to  give  the  exact  figures. 

We  sold  the  cockerels  and  the  culls  of  the  pullets,  and  this  i)aid 
for  all  labor  and  expenses,  and  left  a  handsome  profit.  We  had 
150  very  fine  pullets  left,  and  they  supplied  us  with  many  eggs 
during  the  following  winter. 

The  success  of  this  experiment  led  me  to  repeat  it  the  same  sea- 
son. As  soon  as  the  hens  were  all  off  the  nests,  we  had  the  hatch- 
ing room  thoroughly  cleaned,  fresh  dry  earth  put  down,  new  nests, 
etc.  Then,  calculating  the  time  when  our  brooding  house  would 
be  vacant,  which  we  placed  about  April  1st,  we  filled  the  boxes 
again  with  sitdng  hens.  If  we  had  had  sufficient  brooding  room, 
we  could  easily  have  brought  out  three  or  four  sets  of  broods  from 
our  hatching  house,  but  as  it  was,  we  could  only  manage  two  dur- 
ing the  very  cold  weather.  But  this  was  enough  to  show  the 
profitable  character  of  the  system,  and  next  season  I  tore  down  the 
temporary  structure  that  had  served  us  during  the  first  winter,  and 
put  up  a  cheap  but  substantial  house. 


1 82  COMMON   SENSE 


EetrospectitJe.— IJrofit  anb  £o0S. 

T  has  been  said  by  high  authority,  that  in  Agriculture,  he 
who  buys  5  per  cent,  too  high  and  sells  5  per  cent,  too 
low,  loses  his  entire  profit.  If  this  be  true,  it  shows  that 
tlie  profits  in  most  agricultural  pursuits  are  not  as  large  as  some 
would  have  us  believe,  and  indeed,  it  is  the  opinion  of  those  who  are 
best  informed  on  the  subject,  that  the  wealth  of  our  farmers  does 
not  come  from  profits  arising  after  the  manner  of  those  from  mer- 
cantile transactions  or  contractors'  undertakings,  but  is  simply  the 
wages  of  labor,  close  economy  having  been  exercised  in  disi)osing 
of  it.  And  so  I  found  that  a  good  share  of  the  outcome  of  my 
poultry  yard  was  due  to  me  as  wages  for  the  labor  I  had  })er- 
formed.  When,  therefore,  about  the  first  of  the  year,  I  began 
to  calculate  where  I  stood,  I  was  a  litde  surprised  at  the  extent  of 
my  investment,  and  at  the  very  considerable  part  which  was  due 
to  the  labor  of  my  own  hands,  for  I  had  far  exceeded  Uie  propor- 
tion of  my  own  time  which  I  had  first  allotted  to  the  enterprise,  and 
instead  of  /la/f  time,  as  I  had  at  first  calculated,  I  found  that  I  had 
given  to  it  pretty  long  hours. 

While  my  beginning  had  actually  been  made  in  June,  the  first  sea- 
son had  really  closed  with  December,  so  far  as  that  year's  stock  was 
concerned,  so  that  when  early  in  January  I  turned  my  attention  to 
the  hatching  of  new  broods,  I  felt  that  I  was  entering  upon  an- 
other season's  work,  and  was  really  commencing  a  new  year  in 
the  poultry  yard  as  well  as  in  the  calendar.  But  since  it  was  the 
.yearly  results  that  interested  me  most,  and  as  my  experiment 
commenced  in  June,  I  have  regarded  the  years  as  beginning  in 
that  mondi. 

The  first  season  I  regarded  more  as  a  sort  of  apprenticeship, 
than  as  a  fair  sample  of  what  the  business  would  be,  but  on  ex- 
amining the  accounts,  and  allowing  a  fair  value  for  stock  and  per- 


IN   THE    POULTRY   YARD.  183 

manent  plant,  I  felt  that  I  had  not  lost  anything.  It  is  in  the 
valuation  of  the  stock  and  plant,  however,  that  the  fallacy  of 
most  statements  in  regard  to  financial  undertakings  lies  concealed. 
If  we  only  have  the  opportunity  to  adjust  tin's  feature,  it  is  easy  to 
show  a  good  balance  sheet,  and  this  may  perhaps  be  one  reason 
for  the  prevalent  tendency  to  "water"  stocks.  If  the  stock  of  any 
enterprise  has  doubled  in  amount,  it  would  seem  to  the  unsophis- 
ticated, that  the  property  has  actually  doubled  in  value  while  in 
fact  it  may  have  depreciated.  A  very  slight  addition  to  the 
valuation  of  each  of  3,000  chickens  would  change  the  bal- 
ance from  the  loss  side  to  that  of  profit,  and  this  is  easily  done 
on  paper. 

In  the  preceding  pages,  I  have  given  my  plans,  methods  and 
many  of  the  ultimate  results.  To  give  a  minute  detail  of  all  the 
ha[)S  and  mishaps  would  swell  this  work  into  a  large  volume,  and 
I  will,  therefore,  merely  offer  a  summary  of  my  progress  each  sea- 
son, and  give  the  balance  sheet  of  the  third  year,  at  which  time  I 
had  my  yards  and  system  fiilly  under  way. 

On  the  last  day  of  December  of  my  first  year,  I  found  that  I 
had  more  than  half  the  number  of  hens  that  I  had  set  out  to  keep, 
and  in  addition,  I  had  a  great  many  birds  that  might  be  converted 
into  cash  as  soon  as  the  spring  came.  It  was  not,  therefore,  a  difficult 
matter  to  make  the  number  up  to  1,000  first  class  hens  during  the 
next  six  months.  My  earliest  hatches  of  the  following  season 
gave  me  150  good  pullets;  from  my  second  hatch,  at  the  end  of 
March,  I  had  213,  so  that  I  needed  only  about  150  more  to  com- 
plete my  quota.  These  were  raised  in  May  without  any  special 
effort,  so  that  when  the  loth  of  June  came  again,  I  had  1,000 
good  birds,  though,  of  course,  one  half  of  them  were  quite  young. 
Besides  these,  I  had  a  large  number  of  cockerels  and  culls,  which 
could  be  disposed  of  in  the  fall. 

The  supi)ly  of  eggs  usually  begins  to  fall  off  towards  the  end  of 
May  and  the  first  of  June,  but  my  fall-reared  pullets  were  now  in 
the  full  tide  of  egg-laying,  and  as  I  was  now  just  commencing  my 
new  system  of  crate-delivery,  this  came  very  opportunely. 

Although  the  supply  of  fresh-laid   eggs  undoubtedly  diminishes 


184  COMMON    SENSE 

after  May,  the  price  does  not  rise  very  rapidly.  This  is  probably 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  demand  falls  off  somewhat  during 
the  early  summer  months,  but  after  a  time  the  price  adapts  itself 
to  the  supply,  and  it  was  to  meet  this  state  of  things  that  I  de- 
pended upon  my  fall  broods. 

During  the  spring,  I  sold  off  all  the  old  fowls  and  all  the  culls, 
reducing  my  stock  very  considerably,  and  making  room  for  the 
young  pullets.  These  I  endeavored  to  colonize  in  lots  having 
special  characteristics — each  lot  being  placed  in  its  own  house,  so 
that  a  record  might  be  kept  of  the  results  derived  from  it.  Thus 
in  one  house  and  yard  we  kept  pullets  which  were  a  cross  of 
White  Leghorn  and  Light  Brahma,  and  of  a  certain  age,  and  no 
other  birds  of  a  different  kind  and  age  were  admitted  to  this  yard. 
This  made  the  numbers  in  the  different  houses  vary,  it  is  true,  but 
it  enabled  us  to  get  the  real  average  results  from  the  different 
breeds  and  crosses,  and  this  was  what  I  wanted. 

Early  in  the  second  season,  I  erected  enough  houses  to  make 
up  seventeen,  besides  the  old  house  and  the  breeding  coops.  The 
hitter  were  all  brought  together  and  a  glass  shed  erected  in 
front  of  them.  This  shed  was  divided  into  as  many  compart- 
ments as  there  were  coops,  and  the  yards  radiated  in  a  fan- 
sha[)ed  form,  from  the  coops  as  a  centre.  In  this  way  the  coops 
and  sheds  sheltered  each  other,  so  that  the  hens  were  kept  com- 
fortable, and  many  of  them  kept  on  laying  well  on  into  the  winter. 
But  with  all  my  efforts,  I  found  it  imj^ossible  to  get  enough  eggs  of 
the  second  cross  to  supply  my  needs  for  my  very  early  hatches, 
and  so  I  was  obliged  to  use  those  of  the  third  cross.  But  by  using 
a  thoroughbred  male  of  a  different  strain,  I  succeeded  very  well. 
The  amount  of  eggs  to  be  had  from  these  breeding  coops,  how- 
ever, is  merely  a  question  of  management,  and  after  the  second 
season  I  was  not  troubled  on  this  score.  And  since  I  obtained  a 
good  strain  of  the  Plymouth  Rocks,  I  have  had  no  trouble  at  all. 
The  Plymouth  Rocks  are  comparatively  a  new  race,  and  have  not  a 
great  deal  of  potency.  The  hens,  mated  with  vigorous  White  Leg- 
horn cocks,  give  remarkably  fine  results,  and  we  are  always  able 
to  get  as  many  early  chickens  of  this  cross  as  we  need. 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  185 

Some  of  the  early  hatched  pullets  began  to  lay  in  September,  and 
they  were  all  laying  by  October,  so  my  supply  of  eggs  kept  up 
very  well  into  the  winter.  I  placed  125  of  these  pullets  in  the  old 
house,  which  was  kept  Avarm  by  the  fire  used  to  heat  the  large 
ketUe.  For  the  purpose  of  testing  the  possibility  of  keeping  these 
pullets  laying  during  the  winter,  we  gave  them  the  utmost  care  and 
attention,  and  they  repaid  us  very  well.  So  that  by  the  end  of  the 
second  December  I  had  attained  the  object  at  which  I  had  amied, 
and  not  only  had  my  1,000  hens,  but  had  found  that  they  actually 
yielded  me  a  profit,  as  against  interest,  labor  and  food.  Tlie  profit 
may  have  been  small,  but  still  it  was  on  the  right  side  of  the 
ledger,  and  the  extent  of  it  was  a  mere  question  of  judicious  man- 
agement. 

Thj  thi'd  January  came  with  brighter  prospects,  as  we  had 
greater  experience,  more  skill,  and  better  facifities.  Our  hens  of 
the  fall  broods,  and  even  some  of  the  very  early  hatches  of  the  pre- 
ceding January  ceased  laying  and  showed  a  disposition  to  sit,  and 
this  was  also  the  case  with  many  of  our  choice  breeders.  So  we 
got  our  hatcliing  room  and  brooding  house  in  order,  and  prepared 
to  raise  a  goodly  lot  of  Httle  chicks.  In  this  we  succeeded  without 
difficulty;  the  hands  knew  just  what  to  do,  and  under  my  super- 
vision it  v/as  thoroughly  done.  I  found  it  no  "  half-day's  "  work, 
iiowever,  but  that  full  time  was  demanded.  There  is  no  eight- 
hour  law  in  the  chicken  business. 

It  was  this  season  that  I  regarded  as  the  test  of  the  soundness  of 
my  plans  and  of  the  i)ossibility  of  actual  success.  Fortunately  for 
me  real  estate  had  again  improved  in  value,  and  I  found  that  if  my 
scheme  for  ekeing  out  my  income  proved  a  failure  I  could  at  least 
dispose  of  the  place  without  loss,  and  curtail  expenses  by  moving 
into  a  smaller  house.  During  this  season,  therefore,  I  kept  very 
careful  and  accurate  accounts  of  all  expenditures  and  receipts,  and 
the  following  is  the  balance  sheet  of  this  season : 


l86  COMMON    SENSE 

EXPENSES. 

Interest  on  cost  of  buildings,  plant  and  stock  fowls $120,00 

Labor  Account— 1  woman  at  $15.00  per  month  and  board. ..  310.00 

1  boy  at  $2.00  per  week  and  board 200.00 

Man— half  time 250.00 

Food— 900  bushels  of  corn  at  56  cts 504.00 

800  bushels  wheat  at  87  cts 696.00 

2,000  lbs.  oil  cake  meal 37.50 

2,000  lbs.  corn  meal  at  $1.25 25.00 

2,000  lbs.  wheat  bran  at  $1.10  per  100 22.00 

3,000  cabbages 126.00 

Meat,  bones,  calves,  etc 57.00 

Fuel 15.65 

$2,363.15 

RECEIPTS. 

Eggs,  116,197  or  9,683  doz $2,557.48 

"  Broilers  " 383.75 

"  Fowls  "—or  old  hens 287.25 

Cockerels  and  inferior  pullets 473.75 

Pure  bred  cockerels 27.50 

Eggs  of  thoroughbreds 123.50 

$3,853.23 
Expenses  as  above 2,363.15 

Profit $1,490.08 

At  the  close  of  the  year  (June  lotli)  I  had  1,126  hens  in  the  lay- 
ing yards ;  439  young  pullets,  and  between  700  and  800  young 
chickens.  The  old  hens  and  the  "  broilers  "  had  all  been  sold  off, 
thus  reducing  my  stock  to  a  minimum,  and  consequently  making 
the  feed  bills  of  the  year  appear  quite  large  in  proportion  to  the 
actual  number  of  birds  on  hand.  But  it  must  also  be  borne  in 
mind  tliat  the  food  here  charged  had  reared  and  fiittened  the  cock- 
erels of  the  previous  fall.  The  prices  of  both  the  wheat  and  corn 
are  very  considerably  less  than  the  market  rates,  simply  because  I 
happened  to  procure  a  considerable  quantity  of  both  in  a  slightly 
damaged  state,  but  ]')erfectly  good  for  chickens. 

In  addition  to  the  food  charged  in  the  bill  as  such,  however, 
there  was  a  considerable  quantity  which  was  really  represented  in 
the  labor  account.  Thus  we  had  about  120  bushels  of  corn  of  our 
own  raising,  besides  milk,  potatoes,  turnips,  clover,  grass,  some 


IN   THE   POULTRY   YARD.  187 

sun-flowers,  etc.,  etc.,  and  the  chickens  picked  up  during  the  year 
a  great  deal  of  food  in  the  shape  of  seeds,  insects,  worms,  etc.,  off 
the  cultivated  land.  None  of  this  could  be  taken  into  the  account, 
and  yet  it  was  all  of  importance,  but  it  is  very  obvious  that  what- 
ever it  cost  is  fully  represented  in  the  charges  for  labor  and  interest. 

It  was  amusing  to  notice  the  eagerness  witli  which  the  chickens 
followed  the  plow,  especially  in  grass  land  newly  broken  up.  Sucli 
land  would  be  full  of  the  larvae  and  pupae  of  cock-chafers  or  May- 
bugs,  and  the  way  the  chickens,  old  and  young,  feasted  on  them 
was  gratifying  on  two  accounts:  The  chickens  were  fed  and  the 
insects  were  destroyed. 

The  first  year  we  weie  on  the  place  the  cow  had  a  very  beautiful 
heifer  calf,  wliich  we  raised.  This  calf  was  now  a  cow  in  full  milk, 
and  consequently  our  supply  from  the  two  cows  was  considerable, 
though  none  too  much.  We  churned  all  the  milk  except  the  small 
quantity  used  in  the  house,  and  fed  the  buttermilk  to  the  young 
chickens.  It  paid  better  than  selling  the  fresh  milk  at  market 
rates.  This  was  an  important  item,  Ijut  is  fully  covered  by  the 
charges  for  labor  and  interest.  While  the  feed  bill  may  appear 
heavy,  the  labor  account  probably  appears  light,  for  in  addition  to 
the  hands  named  in  the  statement  there  was  my  own  labor,  which 
amounted  to  fully  as  much  as  that  of  any  man  that  I  could  have 
hired,  and  the  house  girl  gave  us  a  great  deal  of  assistance  in  pre- 
paring food  and  in  other  ways.  And  perhaps  I  have  underesti- 
mated the  amount  of  work  demanded  from  the  man,  though,  ns  I 
would  have  had  to  have  him  anyway,  his  wages  might  be  fairly  left 
out  altogether  so  far  as  my  particular  object  was  concerned.  But 
in  a  thoroughly  organized  poultry  establishment,  run  as  a  special 
business,  his  whole  time  would  have  to  be  charged  to  the  poultry. 

The  same  is  i)erhaps  true  in  regard  to  the  horse.  Her  keep  and 
expense  of  shoeing,  harness,  wagon  repairs,  etc.,  would  all  have  to 
be  charged  to  the  expense  account,  if  poultry  were  the  sole  source 
of  income;  but  as  it  was,  I  obtained  nearly  $1,500  per  year  that  I 
would  not  otherwise  have  had,  and  this  so  turned  the  balance  in 
favor  of  Ferniebield  as  a  residence,  that  I  have  no  present  intention 
of  leaving  it. 


l88  COMMON   SENSE 


Conclusion. 


HAVE  now  given  the  reader  a  history  of  my  methods 
faiUa-es  and  successes,  and  I  have  endeavored  to  answer 
])ractically  the  question  :  Can  a  living  be  made  from 
poultry  alone,  the  entire  dependence  being  upon  eggs  and  fowls 
sold  at  ordinary  market  rates  ?  My  experience  lells  me  that  it  can 
be  done  by  any  one  that  has  the  capital,  industry  and  knowledge 
that  are  needed.  The  market  for  eggs  and  table  fowls  is  always 
good;  better  sometimes  than  others,  but  still  always  remunerative. 
Stocks  may  go  up  or  down;  banks  may  break  and  business  men 
may  fail;  bur  old  Mother  Earth  always  pays  her  dividends 
promptly.  And  the  amount  of  business  done  in  eggs  and  poultry 
is  so  large — over  $265,000,000  per  annum — that  there  is  no  dan- 
ger of  the  business  being  overdone.  Ten  thousand  new  poultry 
farms  could  not  perceptibly  affect  the  market. 

If  reasonable  care  be-taken,  there  need  be  no  danger  of  disease 
carrying  off  our  flock:s  and  ruining  our  pros[)ects,  and  we  know  of 
no  other  accident  that  can  ,greatly  imperil  our  success.  But  there  are 
certain  points  upon  whicl>we  must  insist,  or  failure  will  be  certain. 

In  the  first'place,  the  individual  must  be  adapted  to  the  business. 
It  is  no  child's  play  to  take  proper  care  of  a  thousand  fowls,  and  if 
that  number  is  doubled  or  trebled  very  good  executive  ability  will 
be  needed.  The  care  of  a  small  flock  may  prove  a  profitable  and 
pleasant  pastime  for  invalids  and  ladies  who  have  no  employment, 
but,  unfortunately,  a  small  flock  will  not  yield  the  owner  a  living, 
and  a  large  flock  will  require  not  only  the  care,  but  the  labor  of  a 
strong  man,  and  of  one  who  is  not  afraid  of  exposure  to  storms  and 
cold.  Do  wliat  you  wnll,  there  will  be  dmes  when  sudden  storms 
will  overtake  some  of  your  poultry,  and  if  you  are  too  delicate  to 
take  care  of  them,  good-by  to  profit. 

But  industry,  strength  and  hardihood  are  not  the  only  require- 
ments. Many  a  man,  who  bears  amongst  his  neighbors  the  repu- 
tation of  a  Job  for  patience,  will  fail  when  he  attempts  to  tackle  an 
old  hen  that  persists  in  sitting  where  she  is  not  wanted.    Kindness, 


IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD.  189 

patience  and  thoughtfulness  are  qualities  which  cannot  be  dispensed 
witli.  And,  moreover,  the  successful  pouhry  keeper  must  have  a 
taste  for  tlie  business  and  a  fondness  for  animals.  If  his  duties  are 
l)erformed  as  a  mere  matter  of  duty,  and  not  con  aniore^  we  would 
not  give  much  for  his  chances. 

The  next  requirement  is  abundant  capital.  In  a  book  i)ublished 
a  year  or  two  ago,  in  which  various  occupations  are  described  and 
recommended  as  suitable  for  women,  the  writer  names  $300  as  the 
amount  of  capital  required  for  a  poultry  establishment!  Three 
hundred  dollars  would  no  doubt  set  up  a  very  nice  poultry  yard 
for  some  one  who  got  hfer  living  from  other  sources,  but  we  venture 
to  say  that  if  any  woman,  having  $300,  puts  that  amount  into 
poultry,  and  depends  upon  them  for  a  living,  she  will  fail.  My 
experience  tells  me  that  $3,000  is  nearer  what  is  required,  and  with 
less  than  this  at  command  success  cannot  be  attained.  We  assume, 
of  course,  that  the  person  who  undertakes  the  business  intends  to 
make  a  living  out  of  it,  in  which  case  he  will  have  to  give  his 
whole  time  to  it,  and  consequently  will  have  to  get  his  supi)ort  out 
of  it  (or  out  of  his  capital)  from  the  start.  Less  than  1,000  hens 
would  not  give  even  a  modeiate  living,  and  they  alone  would  be 
worth  $1,000.  It  is  true  that  hens  may  be  bought  in  market  for 
much  less,  but  we  si)eak  of  that  we  know  when  we  say  that  1,000 
such  hens  will  not  yield  a  living  to  their  owner.  The  hens  must  be 
select  birds,  and  are  most  cheaply  and  satisfactorily  raised  by  the 
poultry  keei)er  himself 

A  thousand  hens  cannot  be  housed  properly  for  less  than  $1.00 
each.  Unless  pioi)erly  housed  the  results  will  be  on  the  wrong 
side  of  the  ledger.     This,  therefore,  requires  anotht  •  $1,000. 

Food  must  be  bought  by  the  car  load,  not  b  '-.  bushel,  and 
cash  nmst  be  paid  for  everything.  Any  other  sy'ein  will  so  cut 
down  the  profits  that  the  result  will  be  anything  but  satisfactory. 

To  do -this  needs  a  7(:'^/"/C7//^'  capital  as  large  as  that  named  by 
the  writer  referred  to.  Now,  if  to  the  requirements  we  have  named 
we  add  the  cost  of  living  until  the  returns  come  in  freely,  the  rent 
of  the  land  and  the  cost  of  imi)roving  the  same,  it  will  be  seen  that 
our  demand  for  $3,000  is  not  by  any  means  extravagant. 


190  COMMON    SENSE 

I  am  aware,  of  course,  that  with  persons  who  already  have  some 
other  business,  and  merely  wish  to  work  gradually  into  poultry 
keeping  the  case  is  different.  Such  a  person  might  begin  with  100 
fowls,  and  by  investing  the  profits  from  these  in  new  houses  and 
more  fowls,  lie  might  soon  work  up  to  a  business  of  respectable  di- 
mensions. And  this  would  certainly  be  a  very  judicious  course,  as 
experience  would  be  acquired  just  as  it  was  needed.  But  by  the 
time  the  poultry  yard  is  yielding  a  f^iir  living,  the  owner  will  find 
that  he  has  invested  in  it  a  sum  not  far  from  the  amount  named, 
and  1  am  very  much  mistaken  if  he  would  take  that  amount  for 
his  establishment. 

Another  error  commonly  made  is  in  getting  the  wrong  kind  of 
land,  and  too  litde  of  it.  Although  I  managed  to  succeed  tolera- 
bly well  with  1,000  laying  hens  on  about  nine  available  acres,  yet 
I  am  satisfied  that  less  than  an  acre  and  a  half  to  each  hundred 
fowls  is  not  good  economy.  On  less  than  an  acre  it  is  difficult  to 
carry  out  that  proper  rotation  of  crops  that  is  absolutely  necessary, 
and  the  fowls,  from  want  of  range,  do  not  acquire  that  vigorous 
health  which  I  found  so  desirable.  Less  than  fifteen  acres  for  one 
thousand  birds  is  not  desirable.  Attempts  have  been  made  to  keep 
poultry  in  comparatively  small  coops,  but  it  has  never  paid,  except 
in  the  case  of  fancy  birds,  where  time  and  labor  were  no  object. 

The  land  should  be  all  capable  of  cultivation,  and  should  be  as 
l)roductive  as  it  is  possible  to  get  it.  Heavy  clay  and  light  sand 
are  to  be  equally  avoided  ;  the  former  because  the  birds  rarely  keep 
in  good  health  on  such  soil,  and  the  latter  because  it  is  so  unpro- 
ductive. A  good  deep  gravelly  loam  is  the  kind  to  select.  Such 
land  does  not  remain  wet  long  after  a  rain,  and  it  retains  manure 
and  gives  good  crops.  If  we  allow  fifteen  acres  of  such  land  to 
each  1,000  fowls,  we  can  raise  on  it  a  very  large  proportion  of  all 
the  food  that  is  needed.  It  is  supposed  that  five  acres  are  occupied 
by  coops  and  yards,  and  ten  acres  in  cultivation — growing  clover, 
corn,  cabbage,  etc.  Under  our  system  of  high  cultivation  and 
abundant  manure  the  corn  ought  to  yield  at  least  40  bushels  to  the 
acre,  or  400  bushels  if  the  whole  were  devoted  to  this  crop.  This 
would  be  about  half  the  corn  required.  But  since  clover  and  cab' 
bage  give  larger  yields  than  corn,  and  as  a  portion  of  the  ground 


IN    THE    POULTRY   YARD.  I9I 

will  be  in  these  crops,  the  proportionate  amount  of  food  raised 
would  be  increased. 

It  is  often  difficult  to  find  land  at  a  moderate  price  near  the 
market,  and  it  will  require  good  judgment  to  strike  the  happy  mean 
between  land  that  is  very  cheap  because  it  is  a  long  way  from  mar- 
ket, and  land  that  is  so  near  market  that  it  is  very  valuable.  In 
the  latter  case  the  temptation  to  confine  the  fowls  to  small  yards 
is  very  strong,  and  is  sure  to  result  in  evil.  Land  suitable  for  poul- 
try raising  ought  to  be  had  for  $100  per  acre.  A  higher  price 
than  this  will  load  down  the  enterprise  too  heavily  with  interest  on 
capital.  At  this  figure  it  should  be  all  under  cultivation,  and  should 
not  be  in  any  sense  run  down.  Some  have  recommended  wild 
land  for  poultry  keeping.  By  this  is  meant  land  that  is  covered 
with  brush  or  rocks,  and  is  so  poor  that  it  will  not  pay  to  cultivate 
it.  Such  land  may  be  obtained  very  cheaply  in  some  parts,  but 
would  make  a  very  imprudent  investment.  We  must  bear  in 
mind  that  the  manure  from  i,ooo  fowls  is  worth  a  good  deal  per 
annum,  and  on  such  poor  land  it  is  all  lost,  whereas  if  the  land  be 
good  the  increase  in  the  crops  due  to  this  manure  will  soon  pay  for 
the  entire  investment. 

At  the  same  time,  if  there  should  be  a  piece  of  such  wild  land 
laying  close  to  the  yards,  and  for  sale  at  a  low  figure,  it  would  not 
be  a  bad  investment,  as  it  would  form  a  grand  range  for  the  birds. 
It  would  not  yield  much,  but  then  the  young  birds  would  scratch 
in  it  and  find  plenty  of  insects — ^just  the  thing  they  want.  The 
best  use  to  make  of  such  land,  would  probably  be  to  plant  it  in 
timber.  The  fowls  would  keep  down  the  insects.  Whether  some 
kinds  of  vines  or  fruit  trees,  might  not  be  grown  on  it  with  profit, 
would  be  a  question  worth  considering. 

In  previous  pages,  we  have  stated  that  money  made  from  the 
sale  of  pure-bred  fowls,  must  not  enter  into  our  calculations. 
There  can  be  no  objection,  however,  to  the  poultry  keeper  turn- 
ing an  honest  penny  in  this  way.  If  he  would  keep  his  own  stock 
up,  he  must  rear  pure  bred  birds,  and  as  he  will  always  have 
more  than  he  will  care  to  keep,  it  would  be  foolish  in  him  not  to 
get  the  best  prices  possible  for  them.  And,  if  he  will  confine  him- 
self to  two  or  at  the  most  three  pure  varieties,  and  take  great  pains 


19.2  COMMON    SENSE 

witli  his  stock,  he  may  soon  acquire  a  reputation  for  tliese  breeds 
that  will  bring  a  handsome  sum  annually  into  his  pocket.  But  he 
must  bear  in  mind  that  the  breeding  and  selling  of  fancy  fowls, 
as  they  are  called,  is  a  somewhat  speculative  business.  Fashion 
seems  to  have  more  to  do  with  this  matter  than  has  real  merit, 
and  the  bird  which  would  have  brought  a  large  sum  yesterday, 
and  which  has  cost  much  to  rear,  may  be  unsaleable  to-day. 

In  closing  these  pages,  allow  me  to  say  that  they  have  been  written 
as  much  with  a  view  to  warn  people  of  the  difficulties  ahead,  as 
to  encourage  them  to  go  into  poultry  keeping.  The  tendency  to 
adopt  some  one  of  the  various  minor  rural  pursuits  as  a  business 
is  decidedly  on  the  increase,  but  we  see  everywhere,  that,  where  one 
succeeds,  ten  fail.  That  this  is  due  to  the  character  of  those  who 
go  into  it,  and  not  to  the  nature  of  the  business  itself,  is  easily  seen 
from  the  mere  fact,  that  one  succeeds,  but  we  hold  that  one  of  the 
greatest  wrongs  and  injuries  that  can  be  inflicted  upon  the  strug- 
gling classes,  is  to  present  a  dazzliiig  picture  of  success,  claiming 
that  any  o?ie  may  attain  it.  And  yet  we  see  daily  paraded  in 
various  journals,  the  promise  that  if  a  person  will  only  get  a  few 
good  hens,  and  take  care  of  them,  he  may  soon  build  up  a  busi- 
ness that  will  iead^to  fortune.  And  these  promises  .nre  backed  by 
such  an  array  of  figures  and  statistics,  that  there  seems  to  be  no 
possibility  of  disputing  them.  The  eager  but  inexperienced  novice 
is,  therefore,  led  to  invest  his  time  and  money  in  a  business  of 
which  he  knows  nothing,  and  in  which  he  finds  out,  when  it  is 
too  late,  that  failure  is  the  rule  and  success  the  exception. 

Of  one  thing  I  am  satisfied:  Ex[)erience  on  a  small  scale, 
with  a  few  dozen  hens,  although  undoubtedly  valuable,  will  not 
enable  any  one  to  undertake  poultry-keeping  on  a  large  scale  at 
once.  The  difficulties  as  well  as  the  op[)ortunities  which  arise  when 
a  large  number  of  fowls  are  kept,  are  entirely  different  from  those 
which  present  themselves  on  the  small  scale.  But  those  who  will 
bring  an  ordinary  degree  of  intelligence  to  the  woik,  and  who 
have  the  qualifications  we  have  already  named,  may  soon  acquire 
the  necessary  experience  and  skill,  and  they  will  find  that  where 
there  is  capital,  industry  and  common  sense  in  the  poultry  yard, 
there  is  money  in  poultry-keeping. 


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names  of  the  various  sills,  studs,  plates,  rafters,  etc. 
HINTS    FOR     CARPENTERS 

By  ALBERT  FAIR,  90  pages,  100  illustrations. 

This  book  brings  together  some  of  the  best  schemes  on 
making  special  tools,  such  as  the  carpenter  needs  for  doing  his 
work.  Describes  various  kinds  of  scaffolding,  tool-boxes,  door- 
holders,  besides  many  other  little  hints  that  will  lessen  work 
both  in  laying  out  and  erecting. 

STEEL.    SQUARE     AS    A    CALCULATING    MACHINE 
By  ALBERT  FAIR,  80  pages,  25  illustrations. 

This  book  gives  simple  directions    for    using  the  common 
steel  square  for  the  solution  of  many  complicated  calculations 
that   occur   in  the  every-day  work  of    Carpenters,   Builders, 
Plumbers,  Engineers,  and  other  Mechanics. 
A    NEW^    SYSTEM    OP    HAND    RAILING 

By  an  Old  Stair  Builder,  64  pages,  fully  illustrated. 

Tells  how  to  cut  hand-railing  for  circular  and  other  stairs, 
square  from  the  plank,  without  the  aid  of  a  falling  mold. 
STAIR    BUILDING    MADE     EASY 

By  DAVID  MAYER,  128  pages  111,  illustrations. 

Gives  a  full  and  clear  description  of  the  art  of  building  the 
bodies,  carriages,  and  cases  for  all  kinds  of  stairs  and  steps. 
STEEL    SQUARE    POCKET    BOOK 

Bv  D.  L.  STODDARD,  1.59  pages,  l.iO  illustrations. 

The  size  of  this  book  enables  it  to  be  carried  in  the  pocket; 
hence  the  carpenter  can  always  refer  to  it  for  the  method  of 
finding  the  different  cuts  u.sed  iu  roof  framing,  stair  work, 
hoppers,  towers,  bicycle  tracks,  etc. 

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SAND     SAWS  ~"  ' 

By  F.  T.  HODGSON,  96  pages,  76  illustrations. 
A  complete  guide  on  the  selection,  care,  filing,  and  use  of 
iiand  saws,  together  with  remaiks  on  files,  clamps,  sets,  etc, 
CARPENTERS  «fe  JOINER'S  POCKET    COMPANION 

By  F.  T.  HODGSON,  14i  pages,  300  illustrations 

A  handy  reference  book  and  a  guide  to  the  correct  working 
and  laying  out  of  all  kinds  of  carpenters'  and  joiners'  work,  to 
which  is  prefixed  a  treatise  on  "Carpenters'  Geometry. " 
CARPENTERS'     STEEL.  SQ,UARE  AND  ITS  USES 
By  F.  T.  HODGSON,  112  Pages,  90  illustrations. 

Being  a  description  of  the  square  and  its  uses  in  obtaining 
the  lengths  and  bevels  of  all  kinds  of  rafters,  hips,  groins, 
ibiaces,  brackets,  purlins,  collar-beams,  and  jack-rafters,  also 
uts  application  in  obtaining  the  bevels  and  cuts  for  hoppers, 
spring  mouldings,  octagons,  stairs,  etc. 
STEEL.    SQUARES    AND    THEIR    USES 

By  F.  T.   HODGSON,  80  pages,  65  illustrations. 

Being  a  description  of  the  various  steel  squares  and  their 
■uses  in  solving  a  large  number  of  mechanical  problems  in  con- 
stractive  carpentry,  joinery,  sheet-metal  work,  cut-stone  or 
i>rick-work;  also  showing  how  many  geometrical  and  other 
problems  may  be  solved  by  the  use  of  the  square. 
HOW    TO    READ    PLANS 

By  CHARLES  G.  PEKER,  46  pages,  43  illustrations. 

Many  building  mechanics  are  handicapped  from  getting 
more  pay  because  they  are  unable  to  read  plans  and  work  from 
a  drawing,  and  it  is  for  these  men  that  this  book  was  prepared, 
astheauthorsimply  explains  the  meaning  of  the  various  lines, 
plans,  views,  elevations,  sections,  scales,  blue  prints,  devices, 
symbols,  etc. ,  to  be  found  on  a  set  of  plans. 
HOW  TO  MEASURE  UP  AVOOD^TORK 
.     BY  OWEN  B.  MAGINNIS,  79  pages,  161  illustrations. 

This  book  was  written  so  as  to  place  in  handy  and  concise 
form  reliable  directions  to  enable  builders  and  mechanics  to 
measure  up   the  quantities  of  woodwork  for  brick  and  frame 
iiouses  accurately  and  without  hesitation, 
aiASY     LESSONS    IN    ARCHITECTURE 

By  THOMAS  MITCHELL,  96  pages,  150  illustrations 

The  present  work  is  probably  the  best  architectural  text- 
ibook  for  beginners  ever  published.     It  consists  of  a  series  ot 
qnestions  and  answers  explaining  in  simple  language  the  prin- 
ciples and  progress  of  Architecture  from  the  earliest  times,  etc. 
UICTIONARY    OF     ARCHITECTURAI.    TERMS 
By  VARIOUS  AUTHORITIES,  108  pages,  320  illustrations. 

A  practical,  handy,  concise,  and  reliable  reference  book  for 
Architects,  Builders,  and  Students  of  building  construction,  as 
it  tells  the  correct  meaning  of  over  1,100  terms  relating  to 
architecture  and  building. 

BUILDING   PLANS    AND    HOW    TO    DRAAV    THEM 
By  I.  P.   HICKS,  75  pages,  fully  illustrated. 

This  book  presents  a  simple  series  ot  practical  lessons, 
showing  every  step  necessary  to  drawing  the  full  working  plans 
©f  cottages,  barns,  store-fronts,  and  various  details  of  building 
construction .  All  described  in  the  simplest  language,  so  that 
the  book  will  be  very  valuable  for  home  study. 

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ARCHITECTURAIi    PERSPECTIVE 

By  I.  P.  HICKS,  36  pages,  fully  illustrated. 
Directions  are  given  in  this  book  so  that  one  can  draw  the 
correct  perspective  views  from  the  floor-plans  and  elevations  of 
houses. 
BARN    PLANS 

By  WM.  A.  RADFORD,  160  large  pages,  350  illustrations. 
This  book  describes  and  illustrates  a  large  number  of  barns, 
sheds,  cribs,  and  other  buildings  used  on  the  farm,  together 
with  a  number  of  valuable  little  hints  in  making  useful  articles^ 
PRACTlCAIi    CONCRETE-BLOCK    MAKING 

By  CHARLES  PALLISER,  75  pages,  fully  illustrated. 
This  new  practical  book  is  written  by  a  well-known  auth- 
ority  who  gives  reliable  information  in  simple  language,  so  that 
the  workman  thoroughly  understands  every  step  necessary  to 
make  good  blocks. 

MODERN    CEMENT    SIDEWALK     CONSTRUCTION 
By  CHARLES  PALLISER,  64  pages,  fully  illustrated. 
The  construction  of  cement  sidewalks,  curbs,  and  gutters  is 
thoroughly  explained  in  this  book. 
PLASTER     AND    PLASTERING 

By  F.  T.  HODGSON,  108  pages,  fully  illustrated. 
A  complete  guide  for  the  plasterer  in  the  preparation  and 
application  of  all  kinds  of  plaster,  stucco,  portland,  hydraulic, 
and  other   cements,    together   with  rules  for  measuring  and 
valuing  plaster  and  stucco  work. 
THE    PRACTICAL     STONE     CUTTER 
By  F.  T.  HODGSON,  54  pages,  100  illustrations,  paper  cover. 

A  collection  of  every-day  examples  showing  arches,  retain- 
ing walls,     buttresses,    skew  arches,  vaults,  domes  and  semi- 
domes,  quoins,  groins,  etc. ;  with  explanations  of  the  most  ap- 
proved and  economical  methods. 
HOW    TO     MIX    PAINTS 

By  C.  GODFREY,  64  pages,  fully  illustrated. 
A  simple  treatise  prepared  for  the  wants  of  the  practical 
painter,   telling  him  how  to  mix  his  paints  so  as  to  get  the 
various  tints  and  shades  of  reds,  blues,  yellows,  greens,  browns, 
grays,  etc. 
THE    HARDW^OOD    FINISHER 

By  C.  GODFREY,  112  pages,  fully  illustrated. 
This  book  gives,  in  the  simplest  language,  rules  and  direc- 
tions for  finishing  in  natural  colors,  and  in  antique,  mahogany, 
cherry,  birch,  walnut,  oak,  ash,  redwood,  sycamore,  pine  and 
all  other  domestic  woods.  Finishing,  filling,  staining,  dyeing, 
varnishing,  and  polishing. 
THE    WORKSHOP     COMPANION 

By  JOHN  PHIN,  164  closely  printed  pages 
This  book  forms  a  dictionary  of  practical  information  for 
mechanics,  amateurs,  housekeepers,  farmers— everybody.  It  is 
not  a  mere  collection  of  newspaper  clippings,  but  a  series  of 
original  treatises  on  various  subjects,  such  as  alloys,  cements, 
inks,  steel,  signal  lights,  polishing  materials,  and  tlie  art  of  pol- 
ishing wood,  metals,  etc.  ;  varnishes,  gilding,  silvering,  bronz- 
ing, lacquering,  and  the  working  of  brass,  ivory,  iron,  steel,  etc. 

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THE    WORKSHOP     COMPANION.     Part    II. 

By  JOHN  PHIN,  128  closely  printed  pages. 
This  is  an  extension  of  the  first  part  and  contains  subjects 
which  have  not  been  discussed  in  the  earlier  voUime.  These 
two  volumes  form  a  reliable  dictionary  of  mechanical  recipes, 
containing  a  fund  of  practical  information  that  no  mechanic 
can  aflord  to  be  without. 
MECHANICAIi     DRAWING 

By  T.  P.  PEMBERTON,  112  pages,  67  illustrations.  - 
A  series  of  practical  instruction  for  machinists  and  students 
by  a  draftsman  of  twenty-five  years'  experience.    It  is  intended 
for  beginners  and  self-taught  students. 

ELEMENTARY  PRINCIPLES  OF  MACHINE  DESIGN 
By  J.  G.  A.  MEYER,  96  pages,  41  illustrations. 
A  simple  and  accurate  introduction  to  the  designing  of 
machinery,  showing  and  explaining  step  by  step  how  to  get  the 
proportions  of  connecting  rods,  cotter  joints,  screw  wrenches, etc. 
HINTS     FOR    CABINET-MAKERS 

By  PRACTICAL  MEN,  130  closely  printed  pages. 
This  book  gives  hints  and  practical  information  for  cabinet- 
makers, upholsterers  and  furniture  men  generally,  together  with 
a  description  of  all  kinds  of  finishing  and  full  directions  therefor; 
varnishes,  polishes,  stains  for  wood, dyes  for  wood,gilding,  silver- 
ing, receipts  for  the  factory,  lacquers,  metals,  marbles,  etc. ; 
pictures,  engravings,  etc. 
W^ATER    CLOSETS 

By  GLENN  BROWN,  156  pages,  252  illustrations. 
A  historical,  mechanical  and  sanitary  treatise. 
THE    ART    AND    SCIENCE    OF    STAIR    BUILDING 
By  L.  D.  GOULD,  72  pages,  36  illustrations. 
Explaining  simple   and   complicated   examples  in    hand 
railing. 
A    CENTURY    OF     INVENTIONS 

By  MARQUIS  OF  WORCESTER,   108  pages. 
An  exact  reprint  of  this  famous  book  first  published  in  1663 
with  notes  and  a  life  of  the  author. 

HINTS  FOR  BEGINNERS  WITH  THE  MICROSCOPE 
By  JOHN  PHIN,  125  pages,48  illustrations. 
A  simple  book  for  the  young  microscopist,  showing  how  to 
manage  the  instrument  and  prepare  objects. 
THE    MARVELS    OP    POND    LIFE 

By  HENRY  J.  SLACK,  144  pages,  finely  illustrated. 
A  simple  book  for  the  young  microscopist,   telling  where  to 
look  and  how  to  identify  objects  to  be  found  in  ponds  and 
ditches. 

DICTIONARY     OF      PRACTICAL    BEE      KEEPING 
By  JOHN  PHIN,  80  pages,  fully  illustrated. 
Discusses  nearly  500  subjects,  with  notes  and  practical  hints. 
COMMON     SENSE    IN    THE    POULTRY    YARD 
By  J.  P.  HAIG,  192  pages  fully  illustrated. 
A  full  account,  of  1000  hens  and  what  they  did  with  a 
complete  description  of  the  houses,  coops,  fences,  runs,  method 
of  feeding,  breeding,  marketing,  etc. 


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FOR  THE 

...Qe(T)e9t  U/orl^(^r... 

By  WM.  A.  RADFORD 

369  Pages,  (6x9  inches) 

153  ILLUSTRATIONS 

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A  BRAND  new  book  that  tells  in  simple  language, 
^^  without  the  use  of  engineering  formula,  all  about 
the  history  of  cement  and  concrete,  development  of 
the  cemtnt  industry,  explanation  of  terms,  different 
kinds  of  cement,  water  lor  concrete,  proportioning 
of  concrete  ingredients,  determination  of  voids, 
amount  of  cement  to  use,  testing  of  cement,  specifi- 
cation for  cement,  the  mixing  of  concrete,  by  hand 
and  machinery,  depositing  of  concrete,  working  in 
freezing  weather,  cracking  of  cement  work,  strength 
of  concrete,  water  proofing,  tools  and  machinery  for 
concrete  work,  foundation  work,  stucco  work,  cement 
blocks,  cement  shingles,  sidewalks,  forms  for  con- 
crete work,  cisterns,  silos,  sewers,  drain,  tile,  fence 
posts,  reinforced  concrete,  beams,  colums,  walls, 
floors,  roofs,  partitions,  piles,  etc.,  with  may  useful 
rules,  tables  and  data;  together  a  complete  index  so 
so  that  any  subject  on  cement  construction  can  be  in- 
stantly referred  to. 

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Practical  Carpentry 


pi  l/alijable  flew  Bool{ 

By  WM.  A.  RADFORD 

Assisted  by 
Wm.  Reuther  and  Alfred  W.  Wood& 

2    LARGE    VOLUMES 

600  Pages,  (6x9  inclies) 

400     ILLUSTRATIONS 

Price,   $2.00  Per  Set 

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PRACTIC All  CARPENTRY  is  a  brand  new  book  that 
is  practical  from  start  to  finish.  Written  in  simple  language 
that  a  carpenter  can  underctand.  No  complicated  formulas, 
but   everything   explained  in  simple  language. 

PRACTICAL.  CARPENTRY  shows  the  best  and  quick- 
est methods  for  laying  out  roofs,  rafters,  stairs,  floors,  hopper 
bevels,  mitering,  coping,  splayed  work,  circular  work,  in  fact  it 
covers  all  sorts  of  carpentry  and  joinery  work,  from  the  laying 
of  the  sill  to  the  interior  finish,  with  complete  illustrations 
showing  aU  the  details  and  explanations  about  how  the  work 
is  done  for  windows,  cornices,  doors,  roofs,  porch  work,  special 
chapters  showing  fatilty  and  good  construction,  woodwork  joints, 
how  to  file  saws,  how  to  figure  out  a  truss,  stair  buUding  sim- 
plified, a  chapter  on  modern  building  construction  telling  a!l 
about  the  different  kinds  of  framing,  together  with  a  thorough 
treatise  on  geometry  for  the  use  of  the  carpenter. 

PRACTICAIi  CARPENTRY  is  elaborately  illustrated 
by  over  400  special  drawings  expressly  made  for  this  book,  and 
these  plainly  show  all  the  details  and  are  alone  worth  more 
Ihan  the  price  of  the  book. 

Each  volume  of  PRACTICAL.  CARPENTRY  contains 
50  designs  of  modern  low  cost  houses,  showing  perspectives 
and  floor  plans. 

Either  volume  can  be  had  separately  at  one  dollar  each. 


INDUSTRIAL     BOOK    CO. 

178   FULTON   STREET 

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Cb«  Steel  square  3JS..'.! 


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Wm. 


By  WM.  A.  RADFORD 

Assisted  by 
Reuther  and  Alfred  W.  Woods 


2    LARGE    VOLUMES 

GOO  Pages.  (6x9  inches.) 

300    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Price,  $2.00  Per  Set 

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"Tl-I  r  STE  E  L  SQU  AR  E  is  a  brand  new  book  from 
cover  to  cover,  just  published.  The  largest  and  most  complete 
book  on  the  subject  ever  published.  Written  in  plain,  simple 
language  that  every  workman  can  understand  from  start  to 
finish.  Information  of  value  that  has  appeared  in  former  boots 
on  tne  subject  appears  in  this  book,  but  all  simplified  and 
better  explained.  It  is  a  complete  encyclopaedia  about  the 
Steel  Square. 

THE  ST  EEL  SQUARE  is  a  practical  book  showing 
how  the  square  is  used  for  the  laying  out  of  all  sorts  of  rafters, 
finding  the  length  of  jacks,  hips,  and  valleys;  hopper  bevels, 
calculating,  measuring,  etc. 

This  book  covers  the  subject  of  roof  framing  from  start  to 
finish,  from  a  simple  roof  to  complicated  hips  and  valleys  and 
tower  work. 

THE  STEEL  SQUARE  contains  special  chapters 
showing  how  the  square  is  used  in  laying  out  stair  work  and 
heavy  timber  framing,  showing  how  the  square  is  used  for  laylBg 
out  mortises,  tenons,  shovdders,  braces,  etc. 

THE  STEEL  SQUARE  is  very  elaborately  iUus- 
trated  by  over  300  special  drawings  that  have  been  express  :l7 
made  for  this  book.  They  will  show  you  plainly  how  to  do  he 
job  without  wasting  time  and  money  on  cutting  and  trying. 

Each  volume  of  The  STEEL  SQUARE  contains  50  desifiis 
of  modem  low  cost  houses,  showing  perspectives  and  floor 
plans. 

Either  volume  can  be  had  separately  at  one  dollar  each. 

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Training 


^^^ 


Framin<3 


HOUSE  fRAMiNG 
BARN  FRAMING 
ROOF  FRAMING 


Describing  1)ou$e, 
Barn  $Koof  Training 

By  WM.  A.  RADFORD 

338  Pages  (6x9  inches.) 

t82  Illustrations 
PRICE    $1.00 

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"  FRAMING  "  is  the  largest,  the  most  complete  and 
the  most  instructive  building  book  ever  written.  1 1  deals  with 
the  subject  of  "Framing ""  in  its  multitude  of  forms  and  designs 
in  a  most  thorough  manner.  Nothing  is  omitted  that  will  help 
and  guide  on  the  construction  of  houses,  barns,  roofs,  etc., 
while  particular  care  has  been  taken  to  exclude  any  and  every 
method  of  framing  that  has  not  been  given  a  thorough  and  con- 
vincing test  by  experienced  builders. 

Practical  information  is  the  keynote  of  "  FRAMING  " 

By  practical,  we  mean  information  that  can  be  successfully 
applied  to  the  every  day  work  of  the  average  carpenter,  builder 
and  contractor,  as  well  as  the  more  intricate  forms  of  framing 
that  come  less  often  but  about  which  it  is  necessary  to  be  fully 
posted.  The  book  presents  problems  as  they  have  been 
worked  out  by  well-known  architects  and  the  man  on  the  job. 

"  FRAMi  NG  "  is  illustrated  with  over  100  pages  of 
detail  drawings,  diagrams,  detail  plates,  etc. ,  iucluding  many 
pages  of  full-page  plates  never  before  published,  reproducing 
architects'  original  drawings,  and  also  details  of  buildings  in  all 
stages  of  construction. 

"  FRAM  ING  "  is  the  largest  book  on  this  subject  that 
has  ever  been  published.  No  book  attempting  to  treat  this  im- 
portant part  of  construction  has  ever  before  so  successfully 
covered  the  ground.  Every  phase,  part  and  detail  of  framing  a 
house,  a  roof,  a  barn  or  other  structure  is  given  and  treated  fully 
and  exhaustively,  with  complete  details  showing  each  successive 
step  to  be  taken. 

*•  FRAMING  "  is  practical  in  that  it  shows  the  easiest 
and  most  common-sense  way  to  do  the  work.  It  does  not  con- 
fine its  descriptions  to  one  person's  -ways  or  views,  but  shows 
many  examples  of  each  kind  of  framing,  all  of  which  have 
been  fully  tested  by  experienced  workmen  and  can  be  relied 
upon  to  be  absolutely  correct. 

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made 


Roof  framing  gtj 


A      PRACTICAL     SYSTEM      OF 

-V-     MODERN      METHODS     -j- 

By  Owen  B.  Maginnis* 

164  Pages,  (6x8  inches) 


100    Illustrations 


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THE  carpenter  or  builder  who  will  study  the  methods  de- 
scribed in  this  book  will  realize  the  constructive  value  of 
every  piece  of  timber  which  enters  into  a  framed  roof  and 
will  understand  how  to  lay  out  every  piece  of  timber  used  with- 
out wasting  valuable  time  and  material  cutting  and  trying. 

The  language  used  is  that  of  a  practical  workman— scientific 
phrases  and  confusing  terms  have  been  ad  voided  where  possible 
—and  everything  has  been  made  so  plain  that  any  one  who  will 
faithfully  study  this  book  will  understand  it  from  beginning 
to  end. 

Any  intelligent  mechanic  will  be  able  to  save  at  least  ten 
times  the  cost  of  this  book  in  time  and  material  during  the  first 
few  weeks  that  he  has  it  in  use. 

The  following  synopsis  will  give  a  faint  idea  of  the  charac- 
ter and  scope  of  this  book  : 

The  Principle  of  the  Roof;  Laying  Out  and  Framing  a  Simple 
Roof;  Hip  and  Valley  Roofs;  Roofs  of  Irregular  Plan;  Square 
Pvramidal  Roofs ;  Pentagonal  Roof;  Hexagonal  Pyramidal  Roofs; 
C6uic.ll  Roofs;  Conical  Roofs  Intersected  by  a  Pitched  Roof; 
Octagonal  Roofs;  Circular  Dome;  High-Pitched  Roof ;  Mansard 
Roof;  Hemispherical  Domes;  Elliptic  Dome;  Circular  Molded 
Roof;  Gothic  Square  Roof  of  4  Centre  Section;  Trussed  Roof  of 
Moderate  Span  on  the  Balloon  Principle;  to  Frame  a  Roof  of 
Unequal  Heights  of  Pitches  and  Plates;  Hip  and  Valley  Roof 
of  Unequal  Pitch ;  To  Frame  a  Roof  of  Unequal  Lengths  of 
Rnfters;  Roof  with  Pitched  Ridges  ;  Round-House  Roof;  Fram- 
ing Cantilever  Ro  fs;  Roof  with  an  Elliptic  Plan  and  Straight 
Ridge;  Church  Roof  Construction;  Bow  Truss;  Studio  Roofs; 
How  to  Build  a  Cir  ular  Framed  Tower  with  a  Molded  Roof; 
Miscellaneous  Details  and  Suggestions. 

INDUSTRIAL     BOOK    CO. 

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♦  ♦ 


Artistic  Romes 


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The  Largest  ^ook 
of  T>esigns  of  Cottages 
el^er  published 

280  Pages  (8x11  inches.) 


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Artistically  Boniici 

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THIS  book  illustrates  the  newest  and  most  up-to- 
date  houses.  A  large  variety  of  designs  are 
given  so  as  to  meet  the  taste  of  the  majority  of  home 
builders.  There  are  artistic  houses  for  people  of 
moderate  means  and  others  for  the  more  wealthy, 
but  in  every  case  the  design  is  niade  Wwh  reference 
to  comfort  and  economy. 

PERSPECTIVE   VIEWS  and  FLOOR   PLANS  of 

250  ARTISTIC  HOMES 

are  given,  showing  the  arrangement  and  dimensions 
of  all  rooms. 

Every  design  shown  has  been  made  by  the  best 
architects  in  the  world,  who  have  made  a  study  of 
home  architecture  and  that  alone.  This  volume  has 
received  the  benefit  of  the  most  careful  attention.  In 
a  word,  the  designs  are  the  best  that  could  be  secured. 

Every  design  shown  has  been  made  with  reference 
to  comfort,  convenience  and  economy  in  materials. 
Every  house  is  planned  from  the  inside  and  not  from 
the  outside ;  that  is  to  say,  the  convenience  of 
arrangement  has  been  the  first  consideration. 

INDUSTRIAL    BOOK    CO. 
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^     of  Jlrtlstfc  Designs 

218  Pages  (8  X  11  inches.) 


Elaborately     Illustrated 
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THE  bungalow  age  is  here  and  anyone  conteni- 
plating  the  erection  of  a  country  camp  or  a 
permanent  residence,  will  do  well  to  look  into  this 
form  of  construction,  as  the  bungalow  offers  advant- 
ages not  to  be  found  in  other  forms  of  houses.  To 
the  average  family  a  bungalow  is  ideal,  as  all  the 
principal  rooms  are  on  one  floor,  thus  making  the 
housewife's  work  easier. 

This  is  the  largest  and  most  complete  book  of  its 
kind  ever  published.     It  gives 

PERSPECTIVE   VIEWS   and   FLOOR  PLAN5  of 

208    BUNGALOWS 

of  different  styles  and    varieties    suitable    for    any 
climate. 

The  designs  show  the  bungalows  as  they  will  appear 
when  built,  and  the  floor  plans  show  the  arrangement 
and  sizes  of  rooms.  A  large  variety  of  styles  are 
shown  so  that  almost  every  taste  and  purse  can  be 
satisfied.  The  designs  shown  range  in  cost  from  ^^900 
— up  to  |5,ooo. 


INDUSTRIAL     BOOK     CO. 

178  FULTON  STREET 

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The   Best    and    Largest    Book 
of    Its     Kind     Ever     Published 

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'T^HIS  large  book  contains  illustrated  details  of 
*  cement  construction — standard  specifications  for 
cement — standard  specifications  for  concrete  blocks 
— general  information  concerning  waterproofing, 
coloring,  aggregates,  mixtures,  paving,  reinforcing, 
foundations,  walls,  steps,  sewer  pipes,  tile,  chimneys, 
floors,  porches,  use  of  concrete  on  the  farm,  etc., 
together  with 

PERSPECTIVE  VIEWS  and  FLOOR   PLANS  of 

87   CEMENT  PLASTER  AND 
CONCRETE    BLOCK    HOUSES 

All  houses  illustrated  with  half-tone  cuts,  printed 
on  fine  enameled  paper. 

The  illustrations  show  the  houses  exactly  as  they 
will  look  when  built  and  give  a  very  clear  idea  of  their 
appearance.  All  the  floor  plans  are  shown,  giving 
the  location  and  dimensions  of  all  rooms,  closets, 
porches,  etc.,  with  detailed  information  as  to  both 
interior  and  exterior. 

The  houses  illustrated  range  from  the  small  to  the 
medium  large  in  size,  such  as  will  appeal  to  the  aver- 
age man  or  woman  who  intends  to  build  a  home. 


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A  BSOLUTELY  the  first  and  only  book  of  its  kind 
■^^  ever  published.  No  more  valuable  book  could 
possibly  be  imagined  for  the  use  of  any  one  contem- 
plating to  build  for  their  own  use  or  as  a  safe  and 
profitable  investment. 

The  latest  ideas  in  Two,  Four,  Six,  and  Nine 
Family  Flat  Buildings,  Stores,  Lodge  Hall,  Bank 
Buildings,  Double  Houses,  etc.,  containing 

PERSPECTIVE  VIEWS  and  FLOOR  PLANS  of 

57  STORES  AND  FLATS 

Bank  Buildings  and  Double  Houses  in  different  con- 
structions ;  cement  plaster,  concrete  block,  brick, 
stone  and  frame.  Every  building  illustrated  was  de- 
signed by  a  licensed  architect  standing  at  the  head 
of  his  profession  who  has  made  a  study  of  economy  of 
construction.  Perspective  views  and  floor  plans  of 
each  and  every  design  are  shown,  giving  a  picture  of 
the  completed  building  and  detail  drawings  of  the 
interior  arrangement.  Included  in  this  collection  of 
designs  are  a  large  number  of  stores  and  bank  build- 
ings suitable  for  the  small  town  or  village  as  well  as 
the  large  city. 

INDUSTRIAL     BOOK     CO. 

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EVERY  Auto  owner  is  vitally  interested  in  the  subject  of 
where  to  keep  his  machine.    The  most  convenient  place 
is  on  your  own  property  in  a  private  garage  the  archi- 
tecture of  Avhich  is  in  keeping  with  your  house. 

This  book  is  the  only  one  of  its  kind  and  shows  a  standard 
collection  of  New,  Original  and  Artistic  Designs  for  Up-to-date 
Private  and  Public  Garages  adapted  to  Frame,  Brick,  Stone 
Cement,  Stucco,  or  Concrete  Construction  together  with  Esti- 
mates of  Cost. 

55    DESIGNS  OF  GARAGES    55 

are  shown  by  perspective  views  and  floor  plans  giving 
dimensions,  etc.  Also  remarks  on  GARAGE  CONSTRUCTION  ex- 
plaining the  advantages  of  each  form  of  construction  and  giving 
details  about  the  manner  of  erection,  selection  of  materials, 
hints  on  supervision,  etc.,  etc. 

There  is  also  an  extensive  chapter  on  GARAGE  EQUIPIVIENT 
and  ACCESSORIES  in  which  is  described  the  construction  and 
operation  of  turn  tables;  gasoline  storage  and  pumping;  oil 
cabinets;  constructing  a  repair  bench  and  tool  cabinet:  lockers; 
rules  to  prevent  freezing  of  water  in  cylinders,  radiators,  etc.; 
washing  apparatus;  lighting  apparatus ;  etc.  etc. 

It  is  just  the  book  to  give  you  important  points  and  ideas  if 
you  are  about  to  build  a  garage.  Its  information  will  save  you 
money. 

INDUSTRIAL     BOOK     CO. 

178  FULTON  STREET 

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Practical  Barn  Plans 


n     KA1)F0UD'5    r 

r  PRicncAL  ^ 

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OUT  BUILDINGS,  STOCK 
SHEDS,  POULTRY  HOUSES,   ETC. 

150  Pages  (,8x11  inches) 

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BETTER  farm  methods  require  better  buildings, 
not  necessarily  expensive  ones,  but  buildings 
that  are  well  planned  and  properly  adapted  to  the 
work  for  which  they  are  intended.  This  book  de- 
scribes and  illustrates  a  large  number  of  dairy  barns, 
general  farm  barns,  horse  barns,  cattle  sheds,  poultry 
houses,  silos,  ice  houses,  granaries,  corn  cribs,  wagon 
sheds,  tank  houses,  smoke  houses,  hog  houses,  etc. 

Not  only  one  plan  of  each,  but  many  of  each  are 
shown,  with  all  the  latest  inventions  and  contrivances 
for  saving  time,  money  and  labor. 

ELEVATIONS,    PERSPECTIVES    and  PLANS  of 

150  PRACTICAL  BARN  BUILDINGS 

are  reproduced  on  a  large  scale  sufficient  to  guide  any 
carpenter  and  builder  in  the  construction  of  same.  It 
is  a  book  which  should  be  in  every  farm  home. 

Each  and  every  plan  in  Practical  Barn  Plans  is 

accompanied  by  a  lengthy  written  description,  ex- 
plaining and  giving  the  details  of  the  drawings,  and 
so  worded  and  arranged,  numbered  and  indexed, 
that  it  can  be  readily  understood  by  anyone  who 
reads  it. 

INDUSTRIAL    BOOK    CO. 

178   FULTON   STREET 

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CP^      lacal  Bomes      ?=S) 


SIZE  of  Book  8  X  11  inches, 
bound  in  English  cloth, 
cover  embossed  and  print- 
ed in  two  colors.  All  houses 
illustrated  with  half  tone  cuts 
on  the  very  finest  enamel  paper. 
The  illustrations  show  the 
houses  exactly  as  they  will 
appear  when  built,  and  no 
liberties  have  been  taken  to 
make  them  appear  otherwise. 
All  the  floor  plans  are  shown, 
giving  the  size  and  location  of 
all  rooms,  closets,  porches,  etc.. 
so  that  ideas  are  given  as  to 
both  the  int'  rior  and  exterior  of 
these  100  homes. 

PRICE    $1.00    POSTPAID 

Cotnbinea  l)ou$e  ana  Barn  Plans 

Two  massive  books  bound  in  one  and  illustrated  with  over 
twelve  hundred  Copper  Half  Tone  Plates  and  Zinc  Etch- 
ings which  Avere  drawn  especially  for  this  work.  It  con- 
tains over  300  houses,  barns  and  farm  buildings,  designed  and 
drawn  by  the  best  architects  and  selected  for  their  popularity 
with  the  Building  Classes.  The  houses  illustrated  were  selected 
fortheir  excellence,  practical  designs  and  economical  arrange- 
ment. Perspective  Views  and  Floor  Plans  being  shown  com- 
plete, together  with  estimates  of  cost.  The  farm  buildings  in 
this  book  are  illustrated  by  large  drawings  of  floors,  sides,  ends 
and  frame  work,  together  with  perspective  views  sufficient  to 
guide  the  contractor  or  builder  in  the  construction  of  any  of  the 
buildings  described. 

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^    e^    flmerican  Romes    ^   ^ 


CONTAINING  100  designs  of 
low  and  medium  priced 
houses,  never  before  illus- 
trated, and  has  met  with  pheno- 
menal success.  The  designs  are 
all  original,  practical  and  uj)- 
to-date,  and  have  been  drawn  by 
licensed  architects.  It  is  beauti- 
fully bound  in  English  cloth, 
embossed  in  three  colors,  256 
pages,  size  63^  x  8  inches.  The 
houses  illustrated  are  medium 
in  price,  and  such  as  80  to  90  per 
cent,  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  wish  to  build  to-day. 


PRICE  $1.00   POSTPAID 

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1 


